Digimon Frontier 02: Fallen World
by Kaito Lune
Summary: Sequel to Somebody's Hero. Many years of peace is shattered, scattering the Spirits. An evil older than Lucemon threatens the world but new children must take the mantle of Warriors. Lead by Tommy and Shinya, can they save the Digital Word? OCs galore.
1. Episode 0: The New Beginning

~X:::::::::X~ Change of scene

~:-:~ End of chapter

**A/N: I swear, someone can shoot me. I was going to write **_**Legendary Ten**_** on its own and then begin this once I was done with **_**Defying Destiny**_**, but that didn't fly with myself. After having massive writer's block or lack of motivation with other stories, I decided to just finish up this chapter and post it so it'll stop bothering me. I'll work on the first chapter of **_**Legendary Ten**_** before uploading the first "episode" of this. Sorry everyone. Oh, please notice new transitions. Not too different but it'll work for now.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon, never have, never will. And– oh! I do own the majority of the characters of the new Legendary Warriors.**

**Digimon Frontier 02: The Fallen World**

Episode 0: The New Beginning

_A Worm Trailmon was waiting for them to board. "Come on now," he complained. "We don't have all day." With a final battle over, it was time for all the humans to leave, once and for all._

_"Hard to believe that all of that happened," Shannon said._

_"Yeah, now I have something to tell my younger sister," Seth grinned._

_"I'm sure we'll see each other again," Bokomon said, also holding back tears but he was failing miserably. "And if we don't, I'll be sure to have everyone know about this last amazing adventure to the story of the Humans who came to our world and saved us when we were on the brink of destruction."_

_"I'm sure we'll be back," Takuya shouted. "We did it once before and I'm sure it'll happen again."_

_"I just hope it lasts longer than it did this time," Tommy stated, adjusting his hat._

_"Yeah," agreed Zoe._

_"Are you sure you'll be able to lead the Digital World all on your own?" asked JP. The boy wasn't sure how the young rabbit Digimon would be able to handle all that pressure on his own since the other two ruling angels, Ophanimon and Seraphimon were killed and their DigiEggs nowhere to be found. All he knew was it was going to be hard._

_"I'll manage," answered Lopmon with a strong voice. "I have Bokomon and Neemon to help me if I falter."_

_"Good luck, Lopmon," wished Takehito and Koichi._

_Terriermon flew over to Tommy and Seth. "Do you g-guys really have to g-go?" he asked, trying to act as if he wasn't crying._

_The Warrior of Ice hugged the small Digimon. "We have to," answered Seth. "We've got families and everything back at home. We'll meet again, though!"_

_"Are you humans coming or not?" asked the red Trailmon named Worm impatiently. "All aboard!" Before leaving, Takuya, Koji, Tommy, Zoe, JP, Koichi, Nazu, Seth, Shannon, Takehito, and Hayato pulled out their D-tectors. There was a low hum as their individual Spirits and Beast Spirits appeared before them and flew towards Lopmon, resting in a circle around him. The eleven kids said final goodbyes and boarded the train that would take them back to their home world, the Human World. Lopmon watched as their saviors drifted into the distance and waved after them. _

_When Worm's red caboose disappeared, Lopmon brought down his hand. The heavy burden that now laid before him seemed that much harder for him. He looked down at his feet. Terriermon looked towards the brown look-alike and gave the Digimon a pat on the back. "What's wrong?" he asked._

_"Ruling the Digital World," the rabbit Digimon answered._

_Terriermon gave him a weird look. "You've done it twice before," the dog Digimon said._

_"Never on my own," Lopmon said._

_Terriermon frowned and there was a silence for a minute. "Master Lopmon, you still have me!" Bokomon exclaimed. "I'll help and we can search for Ophanimon's and Seraphimon's DigiEggs. By now, they're most likely hatched. Patamon may be able to recognize me, after all, I was his Papamom and raised the three of you to take back up your thrones."_

_Lopmon gave Bokomon, Terriermon, and Neemon a grateful smile. "Thank you," he said, squaring his shoulders and taking a look at the now twenty-two guardian Spirits. Lopmon knew things would never be the same._

And that was true. Even now, forty years later, Cherubimon knew that things had never been the same. Ruling alone was harder than he imagined but he didn't expect to do it alone. After their fruitless searching, Ophanimon's DigiEgg was never found and Seraphimon (at the time they found him, he was an MagnaAngemon) refused to return, claiming that he now was a guard of the Haruno Shogun leader where he had been raised along side Tsukaimon. Now wandering the empty halls that had been echoing with Digimon of all sizes and species only years before. For forty years he had managed to hold it together but he could tell his control was slowly slipping out of his grasp like water. Filling the rolls of his comrades for all this time was finally taking it's toll and beginning to show.

Cherubimon sighed. He had left the main castle of where he worked behind in the Continent of Light and retired to the Crystal Castle located in the Forest Terminal. He had hoped that the solitude of the forest would wear off on him but it wasn't working that much, especially since Bokomon had never stopped yammering about jobs and business unless something else of interest had taken up his eye. Something like that was few and far between, though. Deciding it would be a good time for a walk, he got up and began to hover through the hallways.

Distorted reflections followed his movement. Cherubimon began toying with the idea of stepping down. It wasn't the first time he had thought of that idea. It had been popping up several times in his mind but he had always kept turning it down. The angel Digimon had to find someway to make sure that they wouldn't abuse the power and in order to find souls willing to do it would be tough and he already had his hands full. Either way, the world needed a fresh start and it wasn't something he could give, not now that was.

"Ah! Where are you going, Master Cherubimon?" asked Bokomon as the lonesome Digimon hovered past him.

"I'm just walking," he answered, looking down at his friend. "Want to come with me?"

"Sure," answered Bokomon, rushing to keep pace with the Digimon. "In fact, I had some important business to tell you." Cherubimon nodded for him to go on. As much as he hated official business at this moment, anything would be nice to bring him out of his wandering mind.

Bokomon pulled out a blank book he had added filled with a schedule, meetings, and whatnot to keep things in line around the castle. Bokomon went over meetings and events that seemed to drone on and on. "Reports of the attacks of the convents keep popping up," he reported. "The Shoguns have begun fighting amongst themselves. Haruno and Nara have begun to declare war. The rebellion has attacked the west side of the Forest Terminal a day ago…"

Cherubimon sighed. This year was the most chaotic one by far during his rule. Breakouts of fights and disasters weren't uncommon in the last few months. The angel had tried his best to keep the peace but it never helped. It had to stop.

"Send a decree to evacuate what's left of the west side of the Forest Terminal and send rescue teams to those that had been caught in the crossfire. Have them look for any survivors," he said. "Send Nefertimon to try to mollify the disturbance." _If only I had more hands_, he thought to himself.

"Master Cherubimon!" shouted Anytlmon. Cherubimon turned to face the guard. She knelt before continuing. "News of the convent spread like wildfire! They are coming this way for your head, sir!"

Cherubimon hardened his resolve at the news; he had expected this to come for the last two months. Baromon had foretold of a war coming upon the Digital World and it was fast approaching. The last hope lay with the Spirits. Cherubimon didn't want to call any new humans, assuming that the ones he had known forty years back were most likely dead. He shook the motion from his mind. Once before, Cherubimon had created forms for the Spirits, maybe he could do it again.

He began quickly making his way to where he had safely stashed the Spirits away from eyes. Bokomon and Anytlmon rushed after him in surprise. Cherubimon didn't listen as insults were thrown at each other. He opened the lock he had set on the door. Sorcermon entered the room behind him. "Master Cherubimon, what are you doing?" he asked.

"Something I should have done long ago," he answered. Cherubimon gathered the eleven Spirits: Fire, Ice, Thunder, Light, Wind, Darkness, Water, Wood, Steel, and the newer found Spirits of the Void. He tucked them away into a sack.

Sorcermon gasped. "You don't mean…?" he began but his master cut him off.

"No, it isn't like that," he answered. "I won't call upon the Humans unless I have too. I'll see if I can't rework some old magic. Sorcermon, I want you to send word for everyone to evacuate. War is coming and Digimon will either gather arms or escape to the Sky Terminal. Call Garudamon to send word to FallenAngewomon and LadyDevimon to expect Digimon to be coming their way. The War is coming."

From behind his mask, the sorcerer Digimon grimaced. "I had hoped it would never come to pass in my life time," he whispered to himself. His voice became audible. "I will guard you and the Spirits with my life, Sir Cherubimon. I'll do as you ask."

"I know you would," answered Cherubimon sadly. "You would do it for me or the others if they were still alive." The great rabbit Digimon shook his head and turned his gaze towards his rabbit guard. "Anytlmon, I want you to gather as much of an army as you can and protect this castle with all your might." Anytilmon nodded respectably.

"What about me?" asked Bokomon. "What do I do?"

Cherubimon turned towards him. "You will come with me," he answered. "Making the Spirits their own Digimon will be hard and will take much of my energy. I want you to fill the Warriors in on what they need to do."

"I just hope none of them rebel," Bokomon said.

"As do I," agreed Cherubimon, thinking of how the old personalities of the Warriors had sunk into their Chosen and made them run wild. He pushed it out of his mind. If it happened, it would only four that would rebel. "Let's go," he said, scooping up the little Digimon in one large hand and went out one window of the crystal castle, leaving behind the quiet forest.

~X:::::::::X~

Bokomon had followed him while Anytlmon had stayed behind with Sorcermon. The two had made it to the castle in the middle of the Dark Continent within a few days flight. The land had not changed much over the past few decades. What wasn't covered in wasteland, crags, valleys, or mountains were covered with forests of nocturnal plants surrounding what little lakes and rivers here and there. Under the red haze in the shape of a rose, known as the Rose Morning Star, lay Cherubimon's castle that he hadn't lived in for years.

Cherubimon rested in his castle for a few hours before hastily heading towards the Room of Spirits where he created the four evil Warriors out of four of his five Spirits nearly a lifetime ago when he had waged war against his friends. He shook his head to clear the memories. He wouldn't use willing Digimon, he just wouldn't. He'd do it by other means. Those means exactly, he didn't know.

The two with the twenty-two Spirits headed towards the dark, decagon shaped room. In all ten corners, a small orb and a fire rested in each of the areas. Different things representing each element rested inside the orb. He released the Spirits and each floated to a corner next to their partner Spirit. The Void Spirits stayed floating next to Cherubimon like a new child meeting a new batch of children and unsure who they should play with.

Each of the fires behind the Spirits began to glow different colors: brown for Wood, red for Fire, light blue for Water, green for Ice, black for Darkness, white for Light, maroon for Earth, teal for Steel, yellow for Thunder, and pink for Wind. Cherubimon reached for the holy energy inside of himself in hopes to contact the afterlife– if he was able to do it. Even though he remembered turning the four Spirits into their own Digimon, he couldn't exactly remember how he did it. He knew that Digimon were needed but how did he make the Spirits comply?

He pushed the thought out of his mind and began chanting. "Please, Spirits and souls of the Legendary Warriors, hear me! The land is in danger once again. I beseech the souls of the eleven to return to their shells!" The twenty-two Spirits began shinning brightly. "Please, our world is in danger of going into war. They need the Ten Legendary Warriors and the mysterious Being of the Void to guide them more than they need me. If needed be, take my power."

Bokomon stayed outside of the circle but made a move to speak up. He held his tongue when the Great Angel held up his hand to silence any objections. "I know, my friend, but the Digital World needs them more than they need me. Eleven warriors are far stronger than one angel," Cherubimon said before turning back to his ceremony.

"Our world is in danger. Spirits of those who saved our world, please come to life like you did before and-!" Suddenly, a set of fox spirits appeared out of no where and attacked Cherubimon, stopping his chant so he could defend himself. The Spirits stopped glowing but still hovered in place. When Cherubimon scattered the four fox spirits away from him, he looked around, trying to find out where the attack came from.

Out of the doorway, a woman wearing red fox themed armor much like a Sakuyamon with black markings on her armor and black gloves. Her staff was unlike what Sakuyamon and their data variations, Kuhuzamon, held. It was silver and held a black glassy like rock set in the middle of the hook. The Digimon seemed oddly familiar but Cherubimon couldn't remember who she was.

"Oh, _Master_ Cherubimon," she said, putting a mocking emphasis on the word "master." "I can't believe you forgot me, you're most trusted advisor."

Cherubimon narrowed his eyes as he tried to remember the slightly hazy memories. When he didn't answer, the Digimon tut-tutted.

"I guess that's what happens when you get reborn once before," she said shaking her head. "I am Onmyojimon, I was once your advisor." She grinned wickedly. "My power is because of you."

Cherubimon didn't have time to try to remember the Digimon. "What do you want, Onmyojimon?" he demanded.

Onmyojimon stepped forwards. "My master wants your Spirits," she answered. "I can take them two ways: fighting for them or you just hand them over." The priestess Digimon said the last part as if it was a boring prospect.

Cherubimon pulled out a lightning spear and shot it towards Onmyojimon but she nimbly jumped away. "Thank you," she stated, landing on the ground. The female twirled her staff and slammed it onto the ground and then shouted, "Kitsune Yurei!" Thin black spirits rose from the ground, flying at Cherubimon. The Celestial Digimon threw his hands into the air and summoned thunder bolts to rain down from above them, destroying the spirits.

"Onyx Ofuda!" Onmyojimon pulled out a talisman, throwing it into the air and pressing the tip of her staff against it, summoning a black mist to fly at Cherubimon. It wrapped around him. Cherubimon could feel his energy begin to drain away from him. He slumped over from exhaustion. Suddenly, the Spirits began to react.

The Spirits of Wind flew from their post. Transparent figures of both Human and Beast Spirits appeared over their figurine and created gusts to scatter the mist. The other Spirits flew towards their master, creating a shinning light and transferring the little power he had given to them back to its rightful owner. Onmyojimon's lips twitched in annoyance.

"That was meant to kill you," she said. "Oh well. I'll just have to make this a bit more fun."

Cherubimon stood back up, towering once again over the female Digimon. He summoned a mass amount of lightning bolts over their heads. They flashed down at her. The Digimon had jumped back and ran around him, pulling out another ofuda and releasing a lightning bolt from it, aimed towards Cherubimon's side. The Spirits of Thunder reacted, flying in front of the attack and firing an electrical attack right back at it, canceling both out.

Onmyojimon growled but was forced to evade a water attack shot by the Spirits of Water. For a second, she thought she could see the figures flicker into a different shape. Something big and flat had smacked her hard in the back, sending her flying into the wall. Getting to her feet, she pulled out a third talisman and released a series of thunderbolts from the sheet of paper. Cherubimon countered with his own lightning bolts.

In an explosion, both sides where sent flying backwards. The Spirits scattered from the resulting shock wave and the half opened doors banged fully ajar. Bokomon, himself had been knocked back and hit the wall hard, knocking the wind out of him. He stood up, trying to catch his breath. He saw that Onmyojimon had been trying to snatch the Spirits– or as many as she could.

Cherubimon made a mad dash for more Spirits himself. Bokomon grabbed any Spirit that was closest to him. He saw the retreating figures of the Beast Spirits of Fire and Water begin to fly towards the door. He went after them but tripped over himself, accidently releasing one of his acquired Spirits which he saw was the Human Spirit of the Void. It drifted off after the other Spirits and out the door.

Onmyojimon, her arms filled with as many Spirits as she could grab, glanced down at what she had. "This'll be enough," she grumbled to herself. The red armored Sakuyamon turned and ran out of the doors, disappearing down the hall before Cherubimon could do anything. Finally collapsing, he glanced down at his Spirits he had managed to grab hold of: all were Human Spirits, those of Fire, Water, Wood, and Ice.

Bokomon walked sadly over to his lord, presenting one last Spirit: that of Darkness. "It was all I could grab, Lord Cherubimon," he said quietly. "I'm sorry."

Cherubimon, frustrated and all, just gave out a sigh. "It's not your fault," the angel Digimon comforted. "You did the best you could. Love may not be my domain but I don't have a big pride." Cherubimon took the Spirit of Darkness from the gnome Digimon and adding it to his collection, summing the Spirits left in his possession up to five. _Most of the other Spirits must be in Onmyojimon's grasp. What can I only do with five Human Spirits?_

Bokomon saw the look of desperation on the leader's face. "I saw some of the Beast Spirits disappear out the door," the Digimon informed him. "I only saw Onmyojimon get away with five, I believe."

This sparked hope in Cherubimon but just barely. "What do you plan on doing now?" Bokomon inquired after a long pause. Cherubimon didn't answer. "Maybe we should go look for Takuya and the others?" the gnome suggested. "They'll be able to find the Beast Spirits and get them back! They have done it before!"

Cherubimon turned his head towards Bokomon, noticing the hopeful look in his eyes. Cherubimon had made a deal with himself to be sure to correct any problems himself and not to pull in humans from the other world. He didn't want to repeat past mistakes but none of the Spirits were corrupted now. The bearers of the Spirits were needed now more than ever. Cherubimon needed to combat the rebels, thus being tied up with too many things. He needed someone to be able to use the Spirits and locate them.

Finally coming to a decision, Cherubimon turned his back to Bokomon, walked over to the sack that he had carried the Spirits in and scooped it up, and put the Spirits into the fabric. He hovered over towards Bokomon and handed it towards the Digimon. Bokomon took it with a perplexed look, unsure of what he was meant to do with it.

"I want you to go to the Human World," Cherubimon explained, "and find Takuya and the others and give them their Spirits." Seeing the horrified expression on the Rookie's face, Cherubimon added, "It shouldn't be that bad."

Bokomon looked down before nodding. "All right," the Digimon agreed, breathing a heavy sigh. Cherubimon lifted Bokomon off the ground and headed out of his old castle and flew towards the closest Trailmon station. Bokomon hopped down from Cherubimon's hand and gave the creature one last looked. After biding each other good luck, Bokomon boarded a sleepy Trailmon. Cherubimon instructed it to head towards the Trailmon Station in the Human World.

"Fine, fine," grumbled the green Trailmon. With one last yawn, he took off. It disappeared into the horizon but Cherubimon didn't stay to watch; he headed back towards his castle so he could rest before traveling back towards the Crystal Castle where Sorcermon and Antylmon were waiting for him.

~X:::::::::X~

Onmyojimon knelt before a pit that was covered by a net of glowing green data. Evil of the darkest shades could be felt, making even those who weren't well in tune with spirit energy or supernatural senses could have felt a shiver run down their spine. Something ancient and evil resided there. Any sane creature would have ran but Onmyojimon wasn't any other Digimon. She presented the five Spirits before it.

_"Is this all you have?" _asked a voice protruding from the pit. _"Only five Human Spirits?"_

Onmyojimon nodded, keeping her head down in shame. She expected to be scolded for her lack of victory. She was mildly surprised when she heard whatever was in the pit laugh. _"This is all we need,"_ he stated simply but still highly amused. _"I'm sure that the last of the Celestial Angels will send for the Bearers of his Spirits. We should do the same, just in case. Go to the Human World and find them."_

"But, master-!" she argued but the voice cut her off, noticing her doubt.

_"You will be able to survive the Human World,"_ he said. _"Back when the Ancient Warriors were living, they made up that Digimon couldn't survive in the Human World so that Digimon wouldn't go there out of fear. The humans won't be too much trouble– that is if you run into any."_

Onmyojimon nodded. Gathering the Spirits of Thunder, Steel, Wind, Light, and Earth, the Digimon rose and gave one last respectful bow before chanting, "Mikaboshimon, the Morningstar shall rise, bringing pure chaos and order in Judgement. Be our guiding light to the beginning." With that, she turned her back and swiftly left, leaving a chortling echo follow her.

**~:-:~**

**Okay, well, how was it? Good, bad, ugly? For those of you who might not get what Onmyojimon's attack (Onyx Ofuda) works, think of it like how Syaoran Li from Cardcaptor Sakura with those talismans and his sword. Um, well, the reason why all the castles were back in the Digital World is because, well, everything was most likely rebuilt including Cherubimon, Seraphimon, and Ophanimon's castles. Sorry I didn't touch up on that in **_**Somebody's Hero**_**. Also note that time floats differently between the Digital and Human Worlds now. One year in the Human World equals ten in the Digital World. One year in the Digital World will be a little over a month in the Human World. **

**Well, if you have any questions, feel free to ask. Hope you enjoyed and feel free to review.**


	2. Episode 1: The New Children

~X:::::::::X~ Change of scene

~:-:~ End of chapter

**A/N: Sorry. Lied again. I was motivated to work on this one instead of the other. Sorry about that. Thanks to darkhase90, RazenX, Aslan Leon, luv2write and laugh, Immortal Fallen Radiance, and Starowner for reviewing.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. I do own OCs. Those that are OCs, you'll know.**

Episode 1: The New Children

"Tommy, pass!" shouted Shinya Kanbara, waving his arms wildly above his head. Tomoki Himi was blocked on all sides, blue-green eyes searching for an opening. Shinya suddenly had someone cover him. The boy dribbled the ball, just as the guard lunged for the basketball. Tommy saw it coming; gripping the ball, he spun passed the guard and went dribbling down the court before taking a shot.

The orange ball bounced out of the basket and into the hands of Sayuri Nagae of the opposite team. Her hazel eyes registered the two brown haired boys coming at her to try to steal the ball from her when she noticed Minoru Shimizu completely open. She tossed the ball over to him. He caught it easily and began dribbling it down the court. Shouts from both teams could be heard as the boy raced down the gymnasium and they chased him to the other side of the court. Three of the other team's guard blocked him but he quickly passed to another kid on his team that was open who passed it to Sayuri who then tossed it into the basket, earning a point for her team. Just then, the whistle blew, signaling the end of the game.

"White team wins!" announced the coach. "Good job, all of you."

Tommy, taking off his red penny, gave out a frustrated sigh as they went to hit the showers. "Maybe next time," he muttered to himself turning in the fabric cloth. The brown haired boy scratched his short unkept brown hair before stealing a glance at Shinya who was talking with Sayuri. The girl was smiling brightly and Tommy thought he could see a trace of flushness on his friend's face. Tommy made a face and noted that he needed to have a talk with him in the locker room.

When they did meet, Shinya was still smiling brightly. "Of all the people you could like," Tommy said, shaking his head.

Shinya's smile faded slightly. "What? She's nice and everything. Did you see her make that basket? It was pretty cool, you have to admit that much!" he answered excitedly.

"Sayuri was on the opposing team," the blue-green eyed boy reminded his friend. "You can't be too friendly to them."

"Oh, it's just a game!" Shinya groaned, taking off his white shirt and then shaking his brown hair out of his eyes. He was honestly annoyed by the constant antics of his friend. "It's not as if we're in the Digital World."

Tommy gave the boy a fake critical eye. "For all we could know, she could be what's left of Lilithmon and Daemon's army," he said in a faux serious tone.

Shinya gave out a short laugh. "Yeah, didn't you guys defeat them _four _years ago? Before that Piximon thing? Me and the others were the only part of those demons' army. Besides, Sayuri isn't that kind of girl. She's much more friendly than you think."

"Then why don't you just date her, Shinya?" Tommy rolled his eyes after adjusting his brown vest over his orange T-shirt. Shinya went bright red and began stuttering something intelligible. "Gez, man," Tommy shook his head.

"What are you two even talking about?" asked Ichiro Fukumoto, fully dressed in his white button-up shirt and slacks. He pushed up his glasses and gave the two boys a smile.

"Oh, just about Shinya's crush on Nagae," answered Tommy, giving the boy a smirk.

"No, we weren't!" Shinya answered quickly, his face flushing frantically, completely giving away his lie.

Ichiro just smiled at them half amused by his friend's flustered look. A sudden bang aroused the three from pleasantries, making them snap their attention farther down the locker room. The dark haired Minoru, half dressed in his ordinary attire and half dressed in his gym uniform, had been pushed into the locker by Yuta Kota. Being held back a year, Yuta was much taller than the boy he had a death grip. Katsuro "Katsu" Matsuomoto stood behind them, arms draped around a nervous looking Kouki Shimizu, not even dressed in his school clothes yet.

"What was that punk?" demanded Yuta angrily, gripping Minoru's collar with both hands. "No one says anything about Katsu and gets away with it!"

Minoru glared up at the boy. "Can't Matsumoto fight his own battles?" he asked coolly.

Katsu simply ignored the boy, dropping his dark sun glasses over his eyes. "You gotta pay up, Minoru," he answered, smirking. He gave the dark brown haired boy next to him a glance. "Right, Kouki?" The said boy mumbled an uncertain agreement, casting his dark blue eyes to the ground. He hoped to escape them but was too nervous to even speak up.

Yuta was about to knock the living daylights out of the younger boy but with the shout from Tommy– alerting them to the other three's presence– the bigger boy forgot about him entirely.

"What the heck are you doing?" shouted Tommy, eyeing all three boys.

"Stay out of it, Himi," muttered Minoru, eyeing the brown haired boy. Tommy utterly ignored him, ready to fly into a fight with Shinya right behind him but Ichiro cut them short.

"Matsumoto-kun, Kota-kun, don't you have Mrs. Kitagawa next hour?" he asked, keeping a pleasant smile on his face. Tommy and Shinya wanted to ask what he meant but stopped short. The boy always had a calm confidence around him and it was always put in the right place; Ichiro had everything under control.

"Yeah, what about it?" asked Yuta, shoving Minoru against the wall again. Katsu slid down his sun glasses to the bridge of his nose and peered at the boy with black eyes, curious on what Ichiro was getting at.

"Well, isn't it true that she has a nasty temper?" Ichiro paused before continuing, reading the looks on their faces. "I'm pretty sure, Matsumoto-kun, you don't want to get into anymore squabbles with her."

Katsu frowned. "Fine, Ichiro, you win this round." He moved away from Kouki, who hastily backed up several steps. Katsu turned his gaze back at the Shimizu boy, saying, "We'll pick up on our payment later." He then turned towards Kouki before adding, "A third place is still open for you. If you want to be better and beat scum like your cousin there, I'd suggest you take it." Katsu walked out with Yuta following him, grumbling. Tommy walked over to Minoru and offered him a hand.

"I don't need it," answered the boy curtly, shoving the help away. He lifted himself to his feet and walked passed Tommy, not even looking back at the half annoyed boy towards his cousin.

Shinya watched Minoru go with a frown. "The least he could have done was say 'thank you'," the boy muttered.

Ichiro finally brought everyone back to earth when he casually reminded them, "You guys know we're going to be late for our next class." Both preteens, knocked back into reality, suddenly remembered that precious time between classes was being wasted and that their next class happened to be English, right on the other side of the school building. With short cries, they rushed back to their lockers and finished up changing before running out of the mostly empty locker room.

~X:::::::::X~

The normal mornings passed just like any other. The bell for lunch had finally rung, releasing children to the cafeteria so they could converse and gossip about their resent activities over their meal. Shinya, Ichiro, and Tommy sat at their normal round table, chatting about their ordinary topics when suddenly Sayuri came over to them, taking one of the two empty seats. "Hey, what the hell?" Tommy asked, annoyed by the girl not even considering asking to sit before she had sat down. "Don't you have your own table?"

"Yeah, but mine normal one is full," she retorted with equal venom, giving Tommy the eye and not moving from her seat. "This was the only one open."

"Isn't there room over there?" Tommy seethed. He indicated towards a table consisting of four girls that, in truth, could hold one more person.

"With Michi Sasaki?" she irritably questioned, chomping off a chunk of her rice ball from her lunch. "There's no way in heck _I'm_ going to sit with her." Sayuri gave a side glare at the said girl. Michi Sasaki was wearing her usual dress, this time in a shade of pink with a short sleeve lavender jacket that wouldn't even fight off the cold that would soon set in during the later part of November. A white headband held back her red hair.

Shinya, all too excited to be having the girl sit with them, questioned hastily, "Weren't you and Michi close back in elementary school?"

Sayuri simply answered with a shrug. "Yeah, until she turned into every other spoiled brat." She took a look at the quiet Ichiro. He just sat there with his never waning smile. For Sayuri, it looked like he was up to something. She felt a shiver run down her back.

"S-so, Sayuri," began Shinya, knowing that he was sounding like a fool already but he persisted. "Um… You did a g-great job in gym today, scoring that final point."

The brown haired girl smiled. "Thanks, Shinya," she said. "Don't you play basketball? I'd thought your team would win since you were on it."

Shinya rubbed the back of his head before embarrassedly admitting, "I'm not the star player. I'm horrible when it comes to shooting baskets." He quickly added, "If you want, you can sit with us anytime."

Sayuri gave him a half smile before the bell rung. The kids packed up their stuff and left for class. Tommy made sure to give the Kanbara boy a smack upside the head.

"Ow," he complained. "What the hell was that for?"

"You just had to, didn't you?" Tommy asked, exasperated. "How can my week get any worse?"

"Hey, it's not like you're going to get a broken wrist," Shinya replied, rubbing the back of his head.

Ichiro just smiled. "You know," he stated, "irony could be listening."

~X:::::::::X~

Bokomon wandered the streets, entirely unsure where he was going or how he was supposed to find the human Chosen. A short time earlier, he had been sure to grab a coat to shield him from the nippy cold and conceal his "odd" form from other humans. Bokomon still got odd looks from his short stature and several calls came after him, asking why he wasn't in school. Bokomon thought about that for a minute. He wondered, coming to a stop, _They happened to call me "kid", so maybe that's where Takuya, Koji, and the others are. But where do I find these schools?_

Bokomon stopped the closest human, a young woman with bags full of stuff. "Excuse me but can you tell me where the schools are?" he asked.

The woman blinked, cocking her head. "Why don't you know?" she asked. "You're not from around here?"

"I came somewhere far from here," he answered hastily. "Now, can you tell me where the school is? It's imperative if I don't find Takuya, Shannon, Seth, Tommy, and Koichi!"

The woman looked as if she just came to a realization. "Oh, I recognize that name. A friend of mine knows a Takuya," she said before adding a laugh. "Life or death, hadn't heard that one in a while. If it's up for the Earth again, come, come. I'll take you to them."

"Thank you," Bokomon replied. "Finally, I'm getting somewhere." Bokomon followed the woman, leading him to a huge building made out of brick that he could only think of as the school. He turned towards the woman. "Thank you, madam. May I ask, what's your name?"

"Aiko Kizukaga," she answered, giving the Digimon a grin. "Just to ask, what do you want with them?"

Bokomon turned towards the school. "I'm here to ask for them to save the Digital World," he answered before adding, "again."

Aiko looked down at him in surprise before her mouth formed an "o". She nodded in understanding. "I'll leave you guys to save your world," she said. "Tell them that I wish them luck! And, I'd suggest that you wait until school lets out. That'll be in a half hour." She bided him farewell after Bokomon thanked her. The Digimon sighed and sat down on the grass, turning his eyes towards the sky.

"Is it always this dark?" he wondered before shivering slightly. "Or this cold? I swear, the entire Digital World is so much warmer than this… Okay, maybe not near Akibara Market."

~X:::::::::X~

The final bell rung, releasing the high school students from their daily torture. Takuya Kanbara, followed by the heavyset Junpei Shibayama, Koji Minamoto, Koichi Kimura, and Nazu Fukufuya, exited the school, all in the ordinary green uniforms that the respective female and male populations of the high school wore. "Man, math freakin' sucks!" Takuya sighed, poking his school bag as if his textbook would jump out at him and bite his finger. This prompted the younger dark haired twin and the only girl of the group to roll their eyes. The other two teens chuckled.

"You're in secondary algebra," Koji sighed. "I passed that easily last year."

"Well, not all of us are math geniuses," Takuya retorted jokingly.

JP shook his head at his friend. "If you think algebra two is hard, wait until you get to calculous. That's going to be difficult for you. I had to retake that class last year." Takuya went pale and looked at the older boy as if he was about to kill him.

Koichi chortled. "JP, I don't think that's helping him any," he advised. "Maybe you should take it one step at a time?"

Nazu sighed. "I could help you," she said. "I'm in your class, anyway."

Takuya gave her a thankful look before he joked, "That's if your _boyfriend_ minds." Koichi smiled, shaking his head.

"I don't think it's Koichi you have to worry about," Koji pointed out. "I think it's your parents you should worry about."

Takuya paled at that. His family had been touchy with him dating Zoe. Even having Shannon or Nazu with the other guys made his mother accuse him of cheating. He'd rather not get into drama like that. Takuya sighed. "Don't you guys miss the Digital World?" he asked offhandedly. "No school, no homework, no chores–"

"–crazed creature trying to destroy both worlds–," added JP.

"–having things defy the laws of physics–," suggested Koichi.

"–can't forget death being anywhere–," Nazu commented.

"–then there was getting into fights every other day," finished up Koji.

Takuya gave them disapproving looks. "Oh, it wasn't that bad!" Takuya cried, turning to them. "Just a break would be great. Another adventure before the end of the school year!" As if on cue, someone in a hooded sweater _way _to big for the person's small body ran up to them.

"I finally found you guys!" he cried. "Takuya, Koji, Koichi, JP, Nazu! The Digital World needs you again!"

~X:::::::::X~

It had taken an hour for Bokomon to explain what was going on in the Digital World to the five teens and for them to call their friends and for the rest of the gang– save Seth who was back home in the United States, getting ready for finals– to rush to Takuya's house and for everything to be re-explained. Even though Shinya wasn't apart of the veteran Legendary Warriors, he stayed in the room, soaking in everything. Fortunately, the Kanbaras were at work, making the house completely empty of parents.

"So, let me get this straight," began Shannon, looking at the white gnome. "Someone's trying to get the Spirits for unknown reasons and managed to get most likely five of them. At the same time, there's a rebellion and a terrorist-like group causing Cherubimon problems. Is that everything in a nutshell?" Bokomon nodded affirmatively.

Hayato let out a snort. "He wasn't able to keep things in line? I mean, he was the baddest cat in the Digital World and yet he can't keep things in line?"

JP gave him a glance. Hayato held up his hands and said, "I'm just saying it as how it is, okay? Don't shoot me."

Zoe sighed, rolling her eyes and turned her attention towards Bokomon. "What Spirits do you have?" she asked.

Bokomon pulled out the bag that he had fitted into his pink belly warmer and presented it to the thirteen humans. "I only have the Spirits of Fire, Wood, Ice, Darkness, and Water," he answered, meeting six disappointed faces of the humans that wouldn't be getting their respective Spirits.

Zoe frowned and sighed something in Italian. "Phoo," she sighed. "I was hoping to go back to the Digital World and be able to fight too."

Takuya looked at her with a determination. "I'll be sure to get your Spirit back, Zo," he promised her before giving her a kiss on the cheek. "Besides, you don't need to be Kazemon or Zephyrmon to be amazing to me." Zoe giggled and kissed him back.

Tommy shook his head, looking away and brought the topic back on track. "So, this should be cake," he said, rubbing his the palms of his hands together. "The sooner we get the Spirits, the sooner the gang can be back together."

"Where's Seth, though?" asked Bokomon, curious to the veteran Warrior of Wood's absence.

"He's back in the US," replied Shannon. "I feel sorry for him, having to take finals soon. He's going to have a longer wait to go into the next grade then we do." The others gave her a questioning look. "We go up a grade once summer hits, not spring. But I have to say, I do miss three months of freedom."

Takuya gawked at her. "_Three _months straight of _no school_."

Koji coughed. "We'll have to do it without him," he said. "Right now, the Digital World can't wait for him. Neither should we." He turned towards Bokomon, who brought out the five Human Spirits. Oddly, they didn't look like the Spirits they had left behind.

"Are you sure that these are our Spirits?" inquired Koichi, looking at what he thought was the Spirit of Darkness. It resembled neither the corrupt monster nor purified lion versions but instead had an owl with a sword kneeling on the hexagonal plate.

"Yeah," agreed Tommy. "Mine looks nothing like a snowball. Now it just looks like a penguin on its belly."

"Bokomon, are you sure that these Spirits are theirs and not some other kids?" asked Takehito, glancing at the red figurine that looked like the upper torso of a red human-lion.

"No, I'm sure that these were the Spirits I had," Bokomon answered, pulling out his book and flipping through it hurriedly. "Nothing like this has happened before."

"Well, it doesn't matter," Takuya said, pulling out his cell phone to accept what was the Flame Spirit. The other three followed suit but the Spirits reacted differently: they went flying in different directions. The red lion looking Spirit flew towards Shinya while the Spirit with a panda looking head with bamboo shoots rising next to it flew towards Tommy. Shinya pulled out his cell phone that had been buzzing like mad and both Spirits flew into the phones, changing them into different devices that they were both use to.

The devices looked like a cross between a D-tector and a flip cell phone. The plastic covering held the elemental symbol associated with the respective Spirit. Upon flipping it open via one of the two buttons on the side, both boys noticed that there were handheld game controls under the square frame. The two boys looked at each other, surprise written on both their faces before turning down towards their devices again. Tommy, scanning over his green and brown device noticed that the symbol on his cover was the symbol for the Wood Spirit.

"Shinya," Takuya asked, breaking the shocked silence as he peaked over his brother's shoulder and glancing at the Fire symbol. "Why do _you_ have my Spirits?"

"I-I don't know," answered the youngest of the Kanbara brothers.

"Did anyone else notice where the other three Spirits disappeared to?" asked JP. Upon glancing over at the oldest of the group, they noticed what he was talking about. The other three Spirits had disappeared. They all gave a bewildered cry and jumped to their feet.

A sudden chilly wind began filling the living room. "Who the hell left the door open?" Koji asked, shivering and pulling his uniform's blazer tighter around him.

"They must've gotten out through the front door," Takehito said. "But how can Spirits open a door without hands?"

"Seth would say something along the lines of 'psychic powers' but it doesn't matter now," JP pointed out. "We have to find those Spirits before whoever is after them comes here. There might be a chance that the Digimon that are after our Spirits may know that Digimon _can _survive here."

The thirteen humans rushed out of the house after pulling on coats and shoes on. Bokomon just sat there, hand on chin as he contemplated on how this could have happened, unaware of the humans disappearance in their mad dash to find out where the Spirits had disappeared to.

~X:::::::::X~

Sayuri was working at her piano lesson, playing through an arrangement of one of Mozart's pieces. A sudden blast of cold air filled her instructor's living room, making both pianists shriek from the sudden chill. Sayuri gave a cry of surprise when some odd looking figurine rushed towards her.

"What's that?" shrieked the instructor, following its path towards the girl with her eyes.

A sudden buzzing caught the teen's attention, making her turn her gaze towards her cell phone after fishing it out of her pants pockets. It began to change into an odd looking light green cell phone with aqua blue trimming and a see through blue flip to it. Just then, the figurine flew into the new object in Sayuri's hands. "Wh-what's going on?" she stuttered, looking at her surprised piano teacher.

"I think I've gone off the deep end," sighed the instructor. "Sayuri, how about you get out of here." The girl, white as paper and surprised, left keeping her eyes on the device in her hands. _What is this thing?_

~X:::::::::X~

Ichiro and his eight year old brother, Osamu Fukumoto, had been home for a few hours. Both were working on something in their respective rooms, doing their own thing. A knocking noise caught Ichiro's attention, making him turn towards the window. He peeked out of it and glanced down at the street to see a tall and slender figure in odd armor that resembled a fox's. Curiosity sparked in his eyes. He pushed up his glasses before leaving his room, moving past Sam who had just left his room to head down stairs for a snack.

"Where are you going, Onii-chan?" the younger boy asked, looking up at his brother with curious blue eyes with his Nintendo DS Lite in both his hands. Ichiro didn't look down at his younger brother, just ruffling Sam's dirty blond hair before walking passed him.

"I'm going outside for some air," he replied, heading down the stairs and putting on his coat. Sam cocked his head to the side, wondering why his brother was being so secretive but he pushed aside the notion and continued on his way for a snack. He heard the door shut, indicating that the older brother had left the house. Sam pulled up a chair towards the counter after laying his handheld on the counter next to where he was about to climb up. Right in the middle of the act, the door suddenly banged open.

From the sudden noise, Sam let out a cry as he lost his footing out of surprise just as he made a mad scramble to get back onto the floor. He ended up landing on the ground on his side, looking up at whoever had entered the house. Much to his astonishment, the who was actually a _what;_ a small figurine with a blue penguin placed on a hexagonal platform came flying towards him. Suddenly stopping, it hovered above the perplexed boy. Sam blinked but was brought back to reality when his device had began making noises.

His curiosity and confusion grew even more as the DS changed its form into a cellphone like device with a white see-through cover and blue body. The figurine flew into the cellphone quickly, making Sam blink like crazy as he watched from the floor. Finally, after half way processing what had happened, he exclaimed, "Cool!"

~X:::::::::X~

Minoru, Kouki, and Mr. Shimizu were walking the two boys home after Kouki's kendo match. "You lost, Kouki!" Mr. Shimizu criticized as they entered the house. "You had him but you backed down! What were you thinking?"

Kouki didn't answer, keeping his ashamed gaze towards the ground. Minoru sighed. "Father, it doesn't matter. Kouki isn't one for fighting, even if he is part of the kendo team and even if Matsumoto lends him a chance to beat me up." Both boys didn't wait for their parental figure to answer as they went up to their rooms. Minoru looked back at his adoptive brother.

"You know, you don't have to be quiet around people," he stated, making the dark haired boy look up.

"You didn't have to defend me," Kouki answered in a quiet but angry voice. "I… I need to start doing it for myself."

Minoru shrugged in a whatever matter. "Sure, once you start doing it," he answered, disappearing into his room. Kouki sighed, hating his natural timidness and went to his own room.

Minoru placed his book on his bedside table before sitting down on the bed. A sudden buzzing from his cellphone caught his attention. He pulled it out and glanced at the screen, curious since he never got text messages from anyone. Then again, he never got calls except from his cousins or mother on occasions. With no messages, he mumbled to himself about how stupid his phone was when the noise of his sliding window made him jump to his feet. Instinct told him to grab something, happening to pick up a baseball bat, for self defense.

His phone buzzed again before changing into a different form entirely. He dropped his bat from complete bewilderment– ultimately forgetting about the window and possible trespasser– and picked up his new cellphone. It was had a dark purple flip and a dark gray body. "What the hell-?" The boy cut himself off mid-sentence as an odd looking figure floated in front of him. Minoru jumped slightly at the owl-knight themed figurine before it disappeared into his purple and gray cellphone.

Words failed him and his mouth hung half open from befuddlement. All he could choke out was: "Wh-what just happened?"

**~:-:~ ~:-:~ ~:-:~ ~:-:~**

**Yeah, I'm having Ichiro call people "-kun". I just keep imagining him referring to people as "(last name)-kun" so I'm just only going to have him say it. I guess I'll have a few characters begin to use suffixes but if that happens, it'll only be apart of their character or to show respect or closeness. Anyone noticed Akio? Yeah, no one knows about her yet since you've only heard her name once mentioned by me before I wrote this chapter. Yeah, nothing much happened this chapter except introducing main characters. Next chapter, we get to see some action. I do realize that Digimon has used the names Sayuri, Kouki, and Sam. Most of this was unintentional save for Osamu. I don't know why but I just had to use it.**

**Oh, and sorry for forgetting to mention which are my OC Digimon. I'll begin doing that whenever new ones come up. Well, I'll start naming OCs that have been mentioned so far: Onmyojimon, Mikaboshimon, and FallenAngewomon. Well, hope you enjoyed the story so far!**


	3. Episode 2: Spirits' Rebirth

~X:::::::::X~ Change of scene

~:-:~ End of chapter

**A/N: Thanks to everyone the reviewed. I'm surprised this is doing better than **_**A Changed Destiny**_**. Reminds me, I have to work on those two chapters. Crap. Anyway, thanks to darkhaseo90, Immortal Fallen Radiance, solorachi, Starowner, Rukia-chappy, luv2write and laugh, and RazenX for reviewing. On another note, thanks to RazenX, I'd like to point out that the characters are older than the others were when they first went to the Digital World (cannon season). Takuya and the gang were about 10-12 (not counting Tommy) while in this story everyone's about 12 or 13. Sam, like I said last chapter, is only eight.**

**Disclaimer: I do not– repeat: **_**DO NOT **_**own Digimon. I only own a game but that's it. I do own OCs and the newer forms of the characters.**

Episode 2: Spirit's Rebirth

Tommy and Shinya had one hell of a time running around the town like chickens with their heads cut off as they tried to find the other three Spirits using the built in maps on their devices. It was only a matter of time until they all found them. Sayuri was the first one to come across them on her way home, looking at her device in her hands, beyond confused.

"Why are you here?" frowned Tommy at the girl. "We're in a hurry, so how about you get out of here."

Sayuri looked up at them. She ignored his question and glanced at the devices in their hands. "_You_ guys have one too?" she shrieked in surprise. "Does Ichiro have one to or something?" The two boys gave her questioning looks as the girl presented the cellphone device that both boys held in their hands but with a different color scheme and symbol in the middle. Tommy recognized it as the symbol for the Water Spirits. Shinya's mouth dropped while Tommy groaned.

"Anyone else you know have one?" Tommy asked, holding back a comment and turning towards the girl. She shrugged.

"Do you guys know what's going on?" she cried, waving the cellphone around. "You know what the heck that floating action figure was? What's going on?"

"We'll explain it later," Shinya answered quickly. "We have to find the other two, pronto."

Only minutes later, Minoru ran up to them. His eyes were wide at the devices they were all holding. Tommy and Shinya grew slightly sour at the boy who gave them an equal look of displeasure.

"Minoru! What are you doing here?" questioned Sayuri concernedly, running up towards the boy, much to Shinya's surprise.

"You have one too?" he asked, looking at the devices they all held. Shinya let out his own sigh. Sayuri nodded.

Five seconds later, Sam ran up to them. "Tommy! Shinya! Have you seen my big brother?" he asked but stopped dead in his tracks. The big grin on his face grew wider. "You have one too! I can't believe it! This is awesome!" The boy tossed his own device into the air gleefully and caught it.

"Come on, guys," Tommy said quickly. "We have to get to Shinya's place. We have a _lot _of explaining to do."

"Why can't you just tell us now," the girl asked, not budging from where she stood. She crossed her arms and gave him a questioning and steadfast look.

Minoru agreed. "What's wrong with here and now?"

"You'll think we're crazy for starters," Shinya admitted. "It'd be easier if we go to my house since my big brother and his friends can explain more than I can." The two reluctant kids glanced at each other before finally relenting and following them. Shinya silently wondered why they were so close.

~X:::::::::X~

It was starting to get dark by the time they got to the Kanbara place. The ten other veteran Warriors had made it back but since the adults had returned to the house, Takuya had made them migrate to their backyard. After a quick panic between Minoru and Sayuri, everything had finally settled down and Bokomon had began to explain everything but then JP decided to cut in and simplify things for the three.

"Bokomon is a Digimon, a creature from a world connected to ours by a living train called a Trailmon. Their station is set under Shibuya Station," the sixteen year old explained. "Their world is filled with things that would baffle anyone. So, if something happens, don't even think about it."

"You got the Spirits?" Shannon asked, looking at Sayuri's digivice affectionately. "This looks nothing like ours. At least I know mine will be in good hands."

"These Digimon…" Minoru began. "Are they like those dragon-like creatures that attacked the city four years ago?"

"Or those… things that saved us?" added the brown haired girl. She had a distinct memory of a weird humanoid polar bear and a machine in the form of a lion from that event four years ago. "Weren't they after something called a Digi Chosen?"

"Digidestined," corrected Takehito. "Yeah, four years ago, they came looking for four humans that were Digidestined: one of the chosen by the Spirits."

"Spirits?" Sam asked excitedly. "What are those? The action figure that I saw, was it a Spirit? What happens when we use them? Do we become a Digimon?"

Koji sighed. "Yep," he answered. "Those Spirits contain very–"

"Oh cool!" Sam exclaimed, interrupting Koji, much to his annoyance. "Can I tell my big brother? He's going to love this!" The boy bounced in his chair with a big grin on his face.

_Tommy was never that excited when he was first sent to the Digital World,_ Zoe, Takuya, and JP thought, sweating a little. Tommy had gotten up and spoken. "We don't have time to tell anyone," he said. "If the Digital World is in trouble now, we have to go _now_."

Sayuri stood. "You expect us to drop our lives for another world?" she questioned. She pulled out her digivice and waved it in front of him. "I should have had a choice in the matter! I have a family and friends and you expect me to just give up all of that and maybe die for others that I don't even know?"

Tommy turned to face her, face hard. "Can you be so cold to the needs of others?" he questioned. "A world needs you."

"I am thinking about others!" she cried returning a hard glare. "My family and friends are what I'm thinking about. If I die, they'd be devastated. I'm thinking about people I know before strangers since they've been through enough as is."

Tommy shook his head angrily. "I've saved the Digital World and Human World twice, along with your hide and your family's! Don't talk about devastating to me. I've lost my family once and I'm not planning on losing them again!" he shouted. "You just don't get it, do you?"

Minoru raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Her reason is perfectly plausible," he stated calmly.

That was when Koichi cut in. "No, Tommy's right," he explained. "When we first fought, it was just for the Digital World but we then figured out that Piximon was not only going to destroy the Digital World but also destroy the Human World. We did end up loosing both for a short while."

The others nodded. They remembered the hopelessness they all had felt during their fight with ZeedMilleniummon. "We lost our families and friends," added Shannon, gripping Takehito's hand and biting her lip. "We lost everything and it was nearly for good. You _can't_ let it happen, no matter what."

Nazu nodded. "It will be hard but you have to do it," she said. "When I was traveling in the Digital World, we all had hard times. Don't expect anything to be easy." None of the three new recruits said anything, making an odd silence.

With that, Shinya decided to break in the silence. "So, what do you guys say? We need all of you with us, right Tommy?" The said boy nodded and turned towards the other three.

"I'm in!" cheered Sam, raising his hand. "I want to help and I want to see the Digital World!"

Minoru looked towards the young child with a confused face. Why was he going? It was far too dangerous for a young kid, even with power of a Digimon. "I'm not going, neither is Sam here."

"Neither am I," added Sayuri. The two turned to leave.

The other two were about to argue but Koji raised a hand to quiet the boys. "You can't make them, even if you want to," he reminded them.

"They'll eventually understand," added Zoe and Koichi. Shinya turned towards his brother, who gave him a wide grin for reassurance. Shinya shrugged in response and everyone left. Tommy, on the other hand, remained determined to get the other two to go.

~X:::::::::X~

The next morning, Tommy had made sure to go and talk with Minoru or Sayuri before school but ended up not getting a chance to. Shinya had been forced to help his friend in his venture and was sent to talk with Minoru, much to his displeasure. "You have a cooler head then I do," Tommy answered.

"That's rather contradictory to my own Spirit and your old one," quipped Shinya with a frown as he went to talk with the dark haired boy. Tommy made his way towards Sayuri's desk in the only other class that they had shared, that being science. Fortunately that day was a lab so he could be her partner, much to both their annoyances. He approached the girl's table with the supplies.

"Well?" he asked.

The new Warrior of Wood didn't need to finish his sentence, the girl had picked it up. "I stand by what I said," she answered simply, not looking up from the instructions on the paper. "Why are you so determined on making me join your group? You can't make me do it, anyway."

"Don't you even care about what could happen if you don't?" Tommy persisted, keeping his voice low. "You could help save _both _worlds."

Sayuri looked up at him, her hazel eyes narrowed accusingly. "What are you doing it for now, the thrill of saving the world or keeping your family safe?" she criticized with a frown.

"Gah! That's not what I'm after!" Tommy shouted, almost defensively. Sayuri raised an eyebrow but Tommy dropped the matter and continued in a low tone, "Look, if this wasn't about something as urgent as the danger that our world and the Digital World are in, I wouldn't be so damn desperate."

Sayuri gave him an odd glance, breaking her death glare with a bemused look. "Desperate? Tomoki Himi? That's a good one," she laughed. Tommy opened his mouth and argued that it wasn't funny but the girl continued laughing, drawing the attention of the rest of the class. He turned bright red from embarrassment and the new Warrior of Water's chortle melted into suppressed giggles.

"It's still not funny," Tommy grumbled quietly, still beat red. After a few minutes, Tommy looked towards Sayuri again. "So?"

Her smile disappeared into a doubtful face. "I don't know," she answered. "Death and about ten billion other things point to me saying no."

"Look, last time I went to the Digital World, practically no time had passed between the time we left and the time we got back. That's all covered," Tommy stated. Sayuri still seemed unsure but finally answered that she would think about it.

~X:::::::::X~

Meanwhile, Shinya shared the same math class. Starting a conversation was hard enough. Sighing, Shinya got up and brought his textbook and homework and moved across the class to an empty seat next to Minoru after the teacher dismissed them from having to take notes. "Hey, Minoru," he began, trying to sound casual. "I don't get this problem here."

Minoru didn't look up from his own work. "Liar," he answered, staring hard at the text book in front of him and tapping the eraser of his pencil against his paper. "What do you really want, Kanbara?"

Shinya sighed. He had easily seen through the lie. He happened to have an A in algebra. The new Warrior of Flame plopped into the seat and closed his textbook and rested it in front of him. "Look, Minoru, I don't like you and you don't like me but we both have a duty. Why don't you want to help keep your loved ones safe?"

Minoru didn't answer, keeping a hard glance at one specific problem. "You stuck on that one?" the boy asked, pointing towards the problem. "You forgot PEMDAS." Minoru suddenly burst into activity and began writing down the problem, not even acknowledging the boy's help. Shinya shoved thought of calling him inconsiderate out of his mind before trying to go back to the original topic that he was after. "Why don't you help us? And why didn't you want Sam helping?"

Minoru finished the problem before looking at Shinya with a scowl. "It would be much too dangerous for Sam to go. He's only a kid, remember?"

Shinya sighed. "I was about a little older than Sam was when I went to the Digital World," he pointed out, dismissing the afterthought that reminded him that that first time he wasn't the good guy.

Minoru repositioned his head, giving him a disbelieving look. "Really," the Flame Warrior insisted. "Tommy was the same age I was. But why aren't _you _going? If you go, Sam would have one more protector but I honestly don't think he needs more than me and Tommy and Sayuri." Minoru, for the third time, didn't answer. Shinya was starting to get short with the long periods of silence. He finally gave up.

"Look, your family could be in danger. Whoever is after the Spirits may eventually figure out that its you or think its someone else. People would get hurt if we stay. I don't want that to happen to Takuya-nii. He may have been the original holders of those Spirits but he wouldn't stand two seconds against anything that would come after him. I'm sure you don't want that to happen to your family either." With that, Shinya got up and moved back to his seat and began working on his homework.

~X:::::::::X~

At lunch, Tommy and Shinya met at their ordinary table. Ichiro had been missing from their first hour gym class and Shinya mentioned the strangeness. Their friend had never missed class, since he loved it so much. Tommy shrugged. "He's maybe sick. It happens, ya know Shinya," he answered before changing the topic. "So, got anything from Minoru?"

Shinya shrugged. "It was a one-sided conversation mainly," the brown eyed boy answered. "What about you and Sayuri? And why did you even go with Sayuri? I thought you hated her or are you starting to warm up to her?"

Tommy shrugged off the accusation. "Yeah, like I can warm up to someone that accuses me of being a glory hog," he answered rolling his eyes. _There's no way in hell I'm going to admit to him that she isn't _that _bad._ "All I got from Nagae was a maybe." That was more than satisfactory for Shinya.

Suddenly, there was a massive explosion. Everyone in the cafeteria jumped to their feet as the school had stopped rattling from the aftershock. "What was that?" shouted Tommy over the screams and shouts from the other students.

"I don't know," answered his friend, "but whatever it was, it must've been close!"

Minoru and Sayuri had felt the shock themselves and found themselves involuntarily running towards where Shinya and Tommy were sitting. "You guys felt that?" she asked, slightly panicking.

"It was from the elementary school," Minoru said quickly.

"Why would anyone want to attack a school, though?" asked Sayuri.

A sudden conclusion escaped the other three's lips: "Sam!" The four pushed through the panicking crowd towards the school's closest exit and tearing across the school's soccer field where the gate that separated the two schools sat. On the other side, they could see that a giant hole had been blown in the side. A humanoid looking figure stood with their back towards them. He had dull armor that looked like a mecha suit that was normally found in children shows. Next to him was a humanoid ape looking creature in a yellow, black, and gray camouflage pants with brass knuckle like objects on his hands.

"Oh, this is just great," sighed the ape Digimon. "I remember how much I hated this school. It feels great to finally demolish this crappy place."

"What are those? More Digimon?" questioned Sayuri. Shinya nodded. Impulse acted with Tommy and Shinya. They pulled out their digivices and held them up in the air, shouting, "Spirit Evolution!" The command alerted the two Digimon on the other side of the fence, making them turn towards the group. Two new Digimon stood where the two boys once had been. One was a seven foot tall panda wearing a green fur vest and a holster was slung across his back. The other was a golden humanoid lion the same size that the other was with blue eyes wearing black fingerless gloves with gantlets on the back and red chest armor.

"How did they-?" gasped the two with wide eyes.

"Don't ask," the panda answered with Tommy's voice.

"It wouldn't make sense anyway," added the other, which the other two presumed was Shinya. The two Digimon jumped over the fence easily and stood in front of their opponents. "All right, who are you and what do you want?"

"Bruemon," answered the robot Digimon. "And this is my partner, Opstandmon."

The monkey let out a shriek of laughter. "Partner is a laugh and a half," he shouted. "Don't mind me but I'm going to pulverize these two clowns. You go and take care of the little kid."

The robot didn't answer and leaped away towards the evacuating children. Anger boiled in both boys. "Bomberomon, you go get Sam!" shouted Tambomon to the lion. Bomberomon nodded whole heartedly and raced after the other Digimon.

"Well, well," chortled the monkey, shifting to face his opponent. "There _are _more and looks like they're all here." He looked passed the panda Digimon and spotted Sayuri and Minoru. "Oh, this is just too good."

"Opstandmon, _I'm _your opponent!" Tambomon pulled out two bamboo rods and rushed at the ape Digimon. "Bamboo Rod!" He swung them but the ape easily jumped away, the brass knuckles crackling with black electricity. He landed with a thump and raced forwards and punched the panda in the gut. He fell to the earth.

Meanwhile, Bomberomon had dodged blows from Bruemon. They would have been easy enough but his broad shields made dodging difficult and how close the metal knight tried to stay at didn't help. Sam clung tightly to the lion. He shivered slightly, gripping the lion's mane.

Bomberomon looked towards his allies and noticed that Tommy was having slight troubles. The new form and element must have been an odd difference for the boy. While preoccupied, Bomberomon didn't notice two Digimon coming up behind him. Something hard had hit him in the back with enough force to send him flying into Tambomon after he had finally landed a blow.

Minoru and Sayuri stood on the other side of the fence, both of them gaping. "Shinya! Tommy! Sam!" the girl shouted. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah, great," groaned Tambomon sarcastically after Bomberomon got off the top of him who let go of the younger boy and allowed him to get behind him.

"Thank you!" Sam shouted. "Onii-chan is going to go nuts once he hears this!"

"I don't think you'll have that chance, kiddy," answered a feminine voice from above. There was a rattle of metal hitting metal as something landed on top of the fence. A tall slender woman wearing a short pink kimono-like dress stood on top of it. Her hair was done up in a semi formal hairstyle and ribbon wrapped boots. In both hands, she held a giant fan that was a good five feet tall. She grinned down at them, namely Sayuri. "What are you doing here, Sayuri? Trying to get friends again?"

The girl growled up at the Digimon. "Who are you?"

She simply pouted and grimaced in annoyance. "Why you brat! You don't even remember me!" she shrieked, opening her fan and jumping at them with her fan poised to slice them. "Wicked Edge!" Minoru pushed her into the ground and the Digimon simply snarled down at the two.

A fifth Digimon landed hard behind them, shaking the earth when he did. It looked like a giant human Digimon wearing stone armor and in his hands was a spiked mace. He noted the dark haired boy and glowered at Minoru. "Minoru. You're gonna pay!" The Digimon, who Minoru could only guess was Yuta, swung the mass right down on top of the two who had rolled out of the way just in time but managed to smack the other female Digimon.

She growled at him. "Watch where you're swinging things!"

"That'd be Michi," muttered Sayuri to herself, getting up and glancing at the female Digimon and pulling out her digivice. Normally, the girl didn't like fighting but when it came to Michi or anyone she didn't like, all bets were off. "How'd that work? Spirit Evolution!" Sayuri mimicked what both boys had done before her. After being wrapped up in a cocoon of data, she had became a blue human Digimon that seemed adapted to the water wearing a short dress and white and black gloves that went up to her elbows and two fins coming out of the back of her head.

Minoru followed suit quickly and became a tall knight completely covered in gray and black helmet that resembled an owl's head, chain mail with dark feathers sticking out of it, and a hilt on his side. On one arm, he a shield that looked like a folded wing was strapped to him and in the other was a Spanish rapier sword. Both Digimon stood ready to face their respective opponents.

"Finally," muttered Tambomon before flying into battle. "Sam, evolve!"

"Right!" called Sam, snapping out of his bewilderment and wonder. He pulled out and Spirit Evolved into a Digimon about his stature that was a purple penguin wearing a green parka carrying a hammer with the head being made out of pure ice.

The three new Digimon, Eskimon (the penguin), Angalomon (the water Digimon), and Nocturmon (the owl themed knight), flew into battle. Attacks flew in all directions.

Tambomon and Bomberomon combined attacks. The panda stuck his bamboo rods into the ground making bamboo stalks pop out of the ground, making Bruemon and Opstandmon jump into the air to avoid the attack, giving Bomberomon the chance to carefully but clumsily jump from one bamboo tip to the other and fire exploding projectiles he had picked up from the rubble of the destroyed building.

Most of the attacks had hit dead on, causing Opstandmon to fall in between the bamboo and unable to move, giving Bomberomon the chance to attack him from above. Tambomon had went head to head with Bruemon with his bamboo swords but the knight had blocked them easily with his shields. Eskimon joined him, attacking the Digimon in the back with his hammer, giving the panda a chance to land a hit on the enemy.

Meanwhile, Angalomon was having her own problems trying to land a good hit on the female Digimon, Tenssemon. Her attack that consisted of her flying around in a jet-stream of water was harder to control than any of her other attacks, making her easy prey for Tenssemon's air blades but the water acted as a shield, fortunately.

Nocturmon was under siege of wild of blows, forcing him to remain on the defensive with his shield up. He looked towards Angalomon, who also looked desperately back at him. The two nodded and lured their opponents towards each other until they were right on top of each other. Neither Convuslmon– Nocturmon's opponent– and Tenssemon didn't expect anything, ready to finish off their opponent.

"Now!" The two switched places suddenly, releasing respective attacks.

"Ocean Snake!" Angalomon finally had made a hit, thanks to how close Convuslmon was to Nocturmon. The force of the added corkscrew spin was enough to make him go flying for a few yards with the Digimon landing easily on her feet only a few feet in front of him.

"Dark Assault!" Nocturmon had unleashed a wave of darkness from his sword, hitting Tenssemon before she could attack him with her own weapon. She landed hard on the ground.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the fence, Tambomon, Eskimon, and Bomberomon had kept their advantage up. Opstandmon growled, looking towards Bomberomon from between the bamboo stalks.

"Opstandmon," stated Bruemon, landing next to him, huffing and looking towards the ape Digimon. "We should get out of here and regroup."

"What?" demanded Opstandmon, glaring at the Digimon. "Retreat? We have them under control!"

Bruemon sighed, inwardly shaking his head. _Such pride and denial_, he thought. "Trust me, it's time to go," he insisted, pointing towards a figure down the field. "It seems our test run has failed."

The ape Hybrid grumbled to himself. "Fine," he relented, gritting his teeth. "But next time, we're doing things _my _way. Sasaki! Yuta! Get your hides over here! We're out of here!"

Convulsmon gave Angalomon one look before he shoved her away and crashed through the fence after the now retreating figures of Bruemon and Opstandmon. Tenssemon scowled at them but followed as well.

The five began going after them but Kouki stepped out between them, a light yellow and light blue device that the other five Warriors had. The five stopped short in surprise. All they could say was, "He has a Spirits as well?"

Principatmon, an angel wearing white robes, a gold sash around his waist, and a woven crown stood where the shy boy had been. He raised his hand and shouted, "God's Whisper." There was a flash of light so bright that it blinded them. Eyes stinging, all they could do was wait for an attack.

**~:-:~~:-:~~:-:~~:-:~~:-:~**

**This came quicker than I thought. Well, yep, we get to see new Hybrids. I'm going to try my best to keep chapters about nine pages. New OC Digimon and their element: Tambomon (Wood), Bomberomon (Fire), Opstandmon (Thunder), Bruemon (Steel), Tenssemon (Wind), Convulsmon (Earth), Angalomon (Water), Nocturmon (Darkness), Eskimon (Ice), and Principatmon (Light). Right now, I like all their designs but I have yet to draw them out. Whoops. Yeah, a whole bunch this chapter. The Void Spirits? Well, they'll come in later for anyone that cares. Oh, and yes, they will go to the Digital World very soon. New goggle head will be crowned. Any guesses to who it might be?**

**Well, see you next chapter.**


	4. Episode 3: Casting Out

~X:::::::::X~ Change of scene

~:-:~ End of chapter

**A/N: Late chapter is late. Thank you Immortal Fallen Radiance, RazenX, luv2write and laugh, darkhaseo90, and Starowner for reviewing the last chapter.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. Never have and most likely never will. I own OCs and that's it. No if or buts about it.**

Episode 3: Casting Out

After interrogations, all the schools in the area were released early for further investigation. Shinya and Tommy had gone straight to Takuya's house to meet up with the veteran Warriors. "Are you guys okay?" asked Shannon worriedly.

The others nodded. Takuya patted his brother on the back. "Were they the other Spirits?" he asked, looking at the five.

"Yeah," answered Tommy. "They ran, though, after we fought them."

"Most likely ran to the Trailmon Station," suggested Shinya. "They could be in the Digital World now, so we need to leave as soon as we can."

"Not without supplies, we're not!" Sayuri stated, walking up next to them and crossing her arms.

"Are you seriously thinking about throwing us into a battle for the world without proper equipment?" added Minoru, looking serious.

"_We_?" the two boys echoed.

"Yeah, we're coming with you!" Sam exclaimed, clapping his hands. "Minoru and Sayuri are coming with us, aren't they?" He gave the Shinya and Tommy a set of puppy dog eyes.

"I thought–" Tommy began but Sayuri cut in.

"You are going to be way out numbered, Tommy," Sayuri pointed out, sticking out her tongue. "Five against three are horrible odds."

"I've done worse," muttered the boy. That had been true; since he started playing soccer, he had been able to outrun an entire team to make a goal. Humans, though, were not Digimon.

"Sayuri's right," Shinya agreed quickly, a small smile on his face. Tommy sighed and Sam cheered.

"All right," Tommy said, clapping his hands to get their attention. "We're going to meet back up here in two hours. Pack what you need only. Medical supplies, food, clothes, and blankets; that's all we need. So, everyone got that?"

"Right!" echoed the four others.

~X:::::::::X~

Sam, accompanied with Koji to make sure that he would pack things he _needed_, had made quick work to make sure that everything was ready. "Huh, onii-chan hasn't been home yet," he said.

"Hmm?" inquired Koji, looking up from packing some of the food that couldn't spoil into the small backpack.

"My big brother," repeated Sam, climbing up onto a chair and pulling out his digivice that JP had decided to nickname the Dt2 off the bat ("What? It's short for D-tector Generation 2! I had to come up with something since what the heck are you going to call it?" the teen had explained quickly.). He gazed at it disappointedly. "Ichiro hasn't been home since yesterday night."

Koji frowned. _Something's up with this boy. Tommy said that there were five new Warriors with Spirits,_ he thought. _It could be something._

~X:::::::::X~

Minoru walked into his house, hoping that neither of his parents was home. When his mother rushed up to him, his hopes were dashed. "Hi, Mom," he said quietly, hiding his disappointment like he always did. _Now it's going to be harder to leave_.

"Where have you been?" she asked worriedly, clutching him tightly in her embrace. "I thought you were hurt or one of the missing!" She released him and knelt down to eye level, checking him over swiftly to make sure her son wasn't hurt. With a sigh of relief, Mrs. Shimizu stood at full height. "Have you seen Kouki?"

Minoru forced a lie. "No," he answered quickly. Minoru knew that even mentioning that he had ran away would break her heart, after all, Kouki was her favorite despite him not even being her blood child. Silently, he gripped.

At that moment, Mr. Shimizu came into the room, bringing a vapid atmosphere with him. His hard gaze fell on his son. "Where have you been? Your mother has been worrying! Where's Kouki?" he demanded.

Minoru gritted his teeth; routine was routine. "I don't know," the boy repeated, shoving past his father and heading towards his room. His father called after him but the wife gave him a disapproving comment that was lost when Minoru slammed his door shut. He threw his bag onto the bed, frustrated. "It's all about Kouki," he muttered to himself, looking into his built in mirror. The hard face staring back at him was once again all too familiar.

In hopes of dismissing the feelings that were racing through his head, he began looking for adequate supplies for the long journey that was awaiting him and his new duty as a Warrior. He had been glad now that this Spirit of Darkness had chosen him. It would allow him to become something different and maybe give him what he needed to change his family.

~X:::::::::X~

Sayuri sighed, picking up her stuffed backpack. Her mother wasn't home yet since she had a full shift for the day and wouldn't be getting home until seven, leaving her home alone. Despite not having her parent home, it was still hard for Sayuri to leave. _The least I can do is write a note to her_, she thought to herself. _At least she wouldn't be worrying about me but would she even believe that I'm going to another world?_

The new Warrior of Water took out a pencil and paper from the old drawers, glancing around for inspiration to hit. Finally, she just shrugged and settled with what she could.

_Mom, I'm going to be gone for a short while. I'm not running away or anything and this has nothing to do with Dad but it's something really important. I'll be back as soon as I can. Do not call the cops, I'll be fine. You wouldn't even believe me if I tried to explain what's going to go on– heck, even I wouldn't. Please don't panic. I love you. –Sayuri._

The girl paused before deciding to just leave the note on the table. Before leaving, she went through the house; her last destination was the living room. She did a clean sweep before having her eyes fall on a picture. Tears formed in her eyes slightly as she recognized an eight-year-old version of her, climbing onto of a man with dark brown hair and hazel eyes and a woman with bright brown eyes and light brown hair. All of them had giant happy faces, all blissfully unaware of what would happen only two years later.

_Papa…_ she thought in a mixture of loneliness and hate. She pushed it from her mind and stormed out of the house, making sure to lock up before leaving for what she thought would be a long time.

~X:::::::::X~

"HUH?" Tommy gasped at his older brother. Yutaka's school had released him early as well because of the "bombings" on the elementary school.

"That device, is that a Digivice?" Yutaka repeated, completely calm as he pointed towards the small device in Tommy's hands. "You're a Chosen for one of the Spirits?" The younger of the Himi brothers just kept gaping at the older one, unsure of what to say. Yutaka then decided to fill the silence. "You haven't been told of the Ancient Ten?"

Tommy stuttered before finally gasping out, "We were but they didn't say much about _human_ partners. I mean, according to Baromon, it was only a newer myth!"

Now it was Yutaka's turn to be confused. "What? It's only been five years. We shouldn't be a myth."

Tommy explained about the weird time differences between the two worlds. He paused. "What Spirit was yours?" he asked.

"Spirit? You mean which one was I? My partner was AncientMegatheriumon," he answered. "What's wrong with the Digital World now? Has Lucemon been released?"

"No, Nii-chan," Tommy answered. "We defeated him five years ago. Different bad guy. Dunno who but Cherubimon wants us. We're kind of in a time crunch right now, Nii-chan. Can you cover me while I'm gone?"

"Sure," Yutaka answered, moving out of the younger boy's way and allowing him to gather his things. Yutaka paused for a second. "Tommy, you've grown a lot since you were little. Now you're going to be saving the Digital World a second time."

"Third," corrected Tommy. When Yutaka pressed him, Tommy just answered that it wasn't important. He moved passed his older brother up towards the stairs to fetch some spare clothes and medical supplies and to change into something different. When he came out, Yutaka held out a hand.

Tommy looked up at his older brother's serious expression that had been quite common back when he was eight. "Good luck and don't screw up," he advised.

Tommy laughed. "Me, screw up? Don't have anything to worry about, Nii-chan. I've helped save both worlds twice." Still, Tommy took his brother's hand and shook it before leaving the house. Yutaka watched after him, even as the door shut behind the new Warrior of Wood. _You have grown but you've also grown cocky,_ his brother thought worriedly. _Let's hope that you don't fall prey to what Ryota did._

~X:::::::::X~

Shinya was working on gathering things in his room. His brother stood in the doorway, watching him with a jealous expression. "It's still beyond me why my little brother is going to the Digital World and not me," he sighed. Shinya had heard him and gave his brother a shrug.

"Maybe you guys are out dated?" he suggested, before grinning at his brother's responding face. "Like how your cell phone no longer works."

"Oi, watch it," his brother warned in both a serious and joking matter. Both brothers laughed before it abruptly grew quiet.

"It still doesn't make sense how we were chosen and not you guys," Shinya finally agreed. "I may be the brainiac of the two of us but it doesn't make sense. What changed? Was it you or the Spirits? And why us? What connects us?"

Takuya shrugged. "Heck if I know. If its something the brainy Shinya or JP can't figure it out, then we're in a world of hurt. Then again, it most likely doesn't matter. What's more important is the Digital World and you guys doing a fine job of protecting it. Take good care of those Spirits, ya hear! They're going to be a family heirloom at this rate."

Shinya laughed. "Well, if that's the case, which of our children are going to get them?"

"Mine of course! I'm the oldest and wisest!"

"Yeah, right. Wisest is a lie right there, Nii-chan."

~X:::::::::X~

The five new Warriors and the nine veterans gathered at the train station. The ten were giving exchanges of advice and gifts. JP had given them a small supply of chocolate bars as a "just in case" precaution. When goodbyes and good wishes were exchanged, finally Takuya decided to quiet everyone down. "Okay, all five of you, you can't screw up, no matter what. Both worlds could be hanging in the balance. One wrong move could be the end of everything. No matter, you can't loose hope and don't get lost in your problems. As a team, you are strongest then apart. Obstacles will present themselves but no one can back down, no matter what. So–" The old Flame Warrior pulled off his old goggles off his neck. "–it's a good idea if someone who knows the Digital World like a second home be in charge. Tommy, take these."

Takuya handed a bewildered Tommy his old goggles. "I'm entrusting you my goggles and leadership of the new generation. Don't disappoint me, okay buddy?"

Tommy didn't know what to say. All he could choke out was a grateful thank you. Next to him, Shinya gazed at the goggles a frown playing on his lips.

"Way to go on the impressive speech," Koji whistled. "I never thought you could be capable of such a awe-inspiring speech. Where'd you steel that from?"

"What?" Takuya demanded, whirling around to face the bandana head. The entire group burst into laughter. Zoe shook her head and patted Takuya on the back, stifling her own laughter.

"It'd be a good idea if we leave," suggested Bokomon, coughing to gain the humans' attention.

Tommy nodded, gripping the goggles. He placed them over his head and let them hang around his neck. "Ready gang?" asked Tommy.

"YEAH!" called the four other voices with mixed tones of excitement.

~X:::::::::X~

The five humans only had to wait an hour's train ride until they reached the Forest Terminal. After disembarking, Minoru sighed. "Everything has lives here? Even the trees are alive?" he asked.

"They don't look to be alive… well, alive like that Trailmon," Sayuri stated, examining the trees for eyes and mouths as she walked past them.

"Well, not everything in that case but there are plant and machine type Digimon," explained Shinya, turning around and continuing walking backwards to talk to the three curious newcomers.

"Let's just say Digimon come in all shapes, sizes, colors, and tempers," Tommy added, looking over his shoulder. He looked back and stopped suddenly, causing Shinya to bump into him and nearly knock them into a pile.

"Hey, why did ya stop?" asked Shinya, turning around and looking at his friend. He adopted the gaping look that Tommy had adopted on his face. "Oh… crap…" whispered the three oldest boys.

"Wh-what happened?" Sam asked, looking at the tree that was the size of a towering skyscraper that one could find in the cities. It seemed to have take fire damage and holes had been blasted in it as if a battle had just taken place recently.

"Oh no!" cried Bokomon, gaping in horror. "Those darn rebels; it had to be them! We have to get to the castle now!" He dashed forward, not waiting for the five children.

Sam, Sayuri, and Minoru were about to run forwards but the new Flame Warrior stopped them. "There could be some guys still left, it'd be best if we Spirit Evolved," Shinya suggested, pulling out his Dt2. The other four followed suit and Spirit Evolved with Shinya. Tambomon lead the charge up the charge up the stairs and towards the castle. When they caught up to Bokomon a few minutes later, Bomberomon had picked up the gnome Digimon so he wouldn't fall behind.

It was less then twenty minutes later before they stood in front of the crystal castle. It shined brightly in the sunlight but the palace's glory had been partly marred by broken windows and several holes in the walls.

"It doesn't look like whoever was here left a long time ago," commented Angalomon, looking around at the damage.

"It always does but I've played enough video games and fought enough in this world to know that things aren't always to be what they seem," Bomberomon stated.

"Shinya's right," Tambomon agreed. "We've got to be careful."

Nocturmon was the first to notice movement. The knight pulled out his shortsword and swiped his sword, releasing black shock waves with a shout of "Dark Assault."

"Crystal Barrage!" Ice shards collided with the small shock waves, canceling the attacks out. After what was left of the ice shards fell away, the six saw a humanoid Digimon that was no taller than an ordinary human child dressed in white wizard robes, accompanied by a cape, high rising collar, and a white hat to complete the look. In one hand, he held a staff with a six-sided snowflake on one end.

The Digimon pointed his staff at them and demanded, "Who are you and what are you doing here? More rebel soldiers?"

At that, Bokomon jumped down from his roost on Bomberomon's back. "No, they're the Legendary Warriors, Sorcermon! I brought them here, just as Cherubimon asked!" Bokomon quickly explained. This didn't seem to satisfy Sorcermon a lot as he just folded his arms in disbelief.

Bokomon turned behind him, giving them looks. Tommy was the first to understand what Bokomon was trying to covey. "So... Sorcermon is back, huh?" he asked, changing back into his human form. "Don't worry guys, he's a friend. I thought he died while protecting us from the original bad guys a long time ago."

"I did?" asked Sorcermon, confused. He looked towards the humans. "I don't remember you. Maybe it was a past life."

"Huh? Past life?" questioned Minoru. "Reincarnation?"

"In a way," answered Bokomon. "You see, when a Digimon has their data scanned, its recycled and turned into an DigiEgg that would eventually hatch into a new Digimon. Memories and the like are gone forever. Don't you humans go through the same thing?" Minoru shook his head.

"Wait, then how did Ophanimon, Cherubimon, and Seraphimon know about everything?" questioned Tommy, mirroring the confusion on the others' faces. "They were reborn but they still remembered us..."

"Well, for starters, I informed them and the Spirits helped out. Being tied to the Celestial Angels, I guess that helps too," Bokomon explained, folding his arms and giving them a knowing smirk.

Shinya coughed to gain everyone's' attention. When he had it, he finally pointed out that they came to see the last of the Celestial Angels.

"Right," Sorcermon said. He beckoned them to follow. "Sorry about sneaking around. It doesn't help that the rebellion attacked recently. They only cleared out about a few hours ago. We're still on edge about it."

Sayuri frowned. "A war? Why are they rebelling? Is Cherubimon a terrible ruler or something?" she asked.

Sorcermon shook his head. "No," he answered. "We don't know... for now. We managed to capture a high-ranking general. He's being questioned right now by Antylamon."

"A perfect choice," muttered Bokomon crossly. Sam was about to ask why but they had finally arrived at their destination.

In the throne room, they found a rather tired looking giant pink and white rabbit like Digimon that wore a jester like collar. Minoru, Sam, and Sayuri looked around, trying to find the angel that they kept hearing about. "Hey, Cherubimon, we're here!" shouted Tommy, running closer to the giant Digimon and giving him a big smile. "Long time, no see."

The indicated Digimon turned his attention away from a crystal showing various images of the land. Cherubimon blinked. "Who are you?" he asked. "You are not the Legendary Warriors."

"Huh?" questioned Tommy. "Cherubimon, it's me, Tommy AKA Kumamon."

That seemed to jog the Digimon's memory. "Tommy?" He looked the human up and down. He truly had changed and grown. "Where are Seth, Takuya, Koichi, and Shannon?" he asked, examining the other humans behind him that were giving each other confused glances or studying him intently.

"Well, you see," began Bokomon, walking to stand next to Tommy. "The Spirits... changed drastically and chose new humans. These are them."

Cherubimon beckoned the humans closer and the other four followed. "So _you're _Cherubimon," Shinya stated. "You look bigger than that cave painting."

"Cave painting?" questioned Sayuri. Shinya simply answered that he'd explain it later. Quick introductions were made.

"So, what's the hubbub?" asked Tommy. "And what's with the war?"

Cherubimon sighed. "I've ruled this land for forty years peacefully but within the last year, a rebellion has just show up out of the blue, causing terrorist attacks. They leave no reason behind them and we've been trying to get information but I've had no luck until just today. Despite casualties, Antylamon and Sorcermon managed to capture a high-ranking officer in the rebellion's army.

The rebellion isn't why I called you all here and gave you your Spirits." Here Cherubimon took the hologram crystal that was displaying forest destruction, most likely from the recent battle and changed it to show the twenty-two different Spirits. "Recently, a new problem has shown up. A Digimon called Onmyojimon tried to collect the Spirits for an unnamed master. She managed to get all quite a few."

"Yeah, we know," Minoru cut in. "We've had to battle them."

Bokomon belted the boy with his book for the rude interruption but Cherubimon paid it no mind and continued. "My man power right now is tied up with the rebellion's armies and just trying to get peace. The reason why I called you here is to find and get those other Spirits back. I also want you to try to find out who this unnamed master is and what their plans are. If you can, take them down."

"How do you know a bunch of kids can do it?" asked Sayuri, speaking up. "I mean... we're just children."

Cherubimon let an amused smile grace his face. "You may be children... human children at that but I've witnessed human children save the Digital World twice over. You human children hold something special inside of you; that's why the Spirits chose you," the Celestial Angel explained. "The Spirits chose you and no one else. I have complete faith in all of you."

Sam blinked. "Um... Cherubimon, how many Spirits are there?"

Cherubimon looked towards Bokomon in surprise. "You didn't explain about the Spirits?" he questioned. Bokomon laughed awkwardly. The rabbit Digimon sighed and turned towards Tommy. "Do you think you can explain everything to them? Unfortunately, I have to get going. I'm sure you're all famished; I'll get the cooks to make something for you all. Bokomon, do you think you can show them to the guest rooms?"

"Of course!" Bokomon exclaimed, snapping to attention. He began leading the humans out of the throne room and towards the hallway that would lead them to their rooms.

~X:::::::::X~

Tommy had been sure to answer as many questions as he could during the dinner that was brought to them. He ended up explaining about the original Legendary Warriors and what little he knew about their partners and his own adventures in the Digital World. Much to his surprise, he found that he had saved Sayuri when he had gone to find one of the Warriors all those years ago.

After the informing, they broke up and went to bed, as it had gotten dark out. Tommy wasn't able to really to sleep. His mind wandered over the events of the past day. _Those Warriors that we fought today... Kouki was one of them. That means those other Warriors must be humans as well._ Tommy sat up and tapped his leg, thinking of who they could've been. _Then who could be that crazy to join up with that Omnyojimon Cherubimon mentioned? Maybe Yuta and Katsuro but who would that Bruemon be?_ The boy sighed.

"I'll eventually figure it out," he sighed before pausing. "You know, it's kinda strange... Bad guys tend to have brothers as enemies. First it was Koji and Koichi, then Takuya and Shinya, and now Minoru and Kouki." Tommy paused in his mental train. "Does anyone else have brothers that we don't know of?"

~X:::::::::X~

Sayuri sighed, walking out of her bedroom and into the common place that worked like their dinning room earlier. Much to her surprise, she found Minoru awake and gazing at the glowing crystal walls, a glowing stone by his side that gave everything a greenish glow. "Can't sleep?" she asked, walking over to the boy until she was standing right in front of him as he sat on the chair.

"Yeah," he simply answered.

There was a pause but was suddenly broken. "How are you holding up?" the Water Warrior asked, sitting down.

"About what?" Minoru asked, not looking up to meet her eyes.

Sayuri sighed, shaking her head. "Enough of your antics. I've known you for _years_ and I can tell when you're playing dumb. You know perfectly well what I'm talking about," she muttered, irritably. "How are you holding up after what Kouki did?"

"Fine, I guess," he lied, still not looking up. It wasn't a full lie though. He felt number about it than anything. It was something that he never saw his adopted brother ever pulling. Something like that was just unthinkable. _People can do things that can surprise you, _he reminded himself. _This is no exception._

Sayuri detected the lie but guessed that he was really angry. Honestly, how could he not be angry, confused, and disappointed? She herself was angry at what Michi was doing, even after their fallout... Sayuri shook the thought out of her head and concentrated on the now. "Minoru, you know bottling up emotions like this isn't good," she stated. "If you ever want to talk, I'll listen."

With that, she waited for an answer. Finally getting that getting an answer would be fruitless, Sayuri turned and went back to her room.

One door that had been partially opened closed quietly but even as subtle as it was, Minoru caught it the noise. He turned towards to the source of it: Shinya's room. He stared at it intently before dismissing it. "Moron..." he muttered.

**~:-:~**

**Sorry it took so long. I've been a little busy with something called laziness. I hope it was all right, even though there weren't a lot of action scenes. I'm going to have this be more drama then action, I think. That's kinda what I have planned. Only forty chapters so far that are planned. I think this story might grow into one that is even **_**longer**_** than **_**Somebody's Hero**_**. I expect it to be about fifty chapters but I'm not going to smush a whole bunch of stuff like that into just ten chapters. Wish me luck!**

**Anyway, so... thoughts, feelings? Hope you enjoyed this chapter!**


	5. Episode 4: Deal of the Devil

~X:::::::::X~ Change of scene

~:-:~ End of chapter

**A/N: Thanks to Immortal Fallen Radiance, darkhaseo90, luv2write and laugh, Starowner, and RazenX for reviewing.**

**Disclaimer: I do not and will NOT own Digimon. This is just for fun and NO profit. I own all OCs and the story line though.**

Episode 4: Deal of the Devil

Onmyojimon noticed the impatientness of the group as she lead them through the tunnel that lead to her master. Despite the five being agitated, all of them had different reasons. The only girl of the group looked on edge, watching all sides as if she was scared of what might come out and attack her. She stayed next to the one that had proclaimed himself leader. The boy's sunglasses stayed down as he feigned braveness. She could easily sense his nervousness and the pride that was hiding it. The oldest boy of the group, too, looked frightened but he wasn't holding it back as his beady eyes darted back and forth.

The only two that didn't seemed to be frightened at all were the two dark brown haired boys. One was impatient to get away, not because of fear but of cautiousness. The other... looked eager to get there and begin work. He was the only one that wasn't feigning courage or coolness. The boy looked at home in the ominous feeling the cave gave off. This only made Onmyojimon smile.

The air seemed to even like it as it electrified with more of the ominous feeling. This set off the other four humans. "Okay, that's enough of that!" shrieked the girl. "Can we hurry it up?"

"You scared?" asked the boy with sunglasses, quickly collecting himself and putting on the smirk.

The girl's face contorted into a glare. "Shin!" she growled, crossing her arms.

The boy ignored her, trying to hold his act together. The continued down the cavern until they came to a dead end. The ceiling rose high above them. The cavern was in complete darkness save for a stream of light from above- most likely from the three moons filling through a hole in the ceiling- and the glow of a net-like gate laid across the ground and over a gapping pit.

_"So, these are the humans?" _questioned a voice that seemed to have no gender or age. Whatever wits the only female had left were hard pressed to not leave her, making her grip the closest person and biting her lip. The oldest boy's eyes were wide with fear. The boy with sunglasses was on edge. The cautious boy looked as if he'd bolt within minutes. The fifth human remained indifferent, completely intrigued.

The voice let out a deep chuckle, seemingly humored by the various reactions of its guests. _"Are you the humans?"_ he questioned, amused.

"Yes," answered the group in feeble attempts of sounding confident.

The voice chuckled again. "So, you all want to work for me. Well, let's begin negotiations. Anything you want shall be yours. All you have to do is gain me the other Spirits."

That was good enough for the other humans. Though the one that had remained cautious looked questioning and not as eager as the others. The boy with sunglasses turned to him with disdain plastered on his face. "You excepted, just like the rest of us," he threatened. "I know that brother of yours, you don't care much about him. I know you detest him."

The boy looked away. "He isn't my real brother," the boy answered weakly. "He's my adoptive brother. That isn't why-."

"Then why?" the boy shoved him a little. Bullying. It was the only thing this boy knew. Threats could only go so far, though, depending on who is on the receiving end.

The other, unfortunately, didn't have the backbone to protest. He wanted to say but his meek nature made him draw back. He wanted to scream that making a deal with this person was a bad idea… but he didn't. The brown haired boy kept quiet.

The other smirked at his submissiveness and at his own victory, as empty as it was.

"_You want to be strong, don't you?" _asked a voice in his head._ "I can give that to you. Just give me your allegiances."_

"Fine," all five humans said simultaneously, all agreeing to their secret wishes and tacit deals with the voice.

"_Good," _the voice said. If he had a physical body, the humans would have seen him grinning. _"Onmyojimon."_

Nothing else was said. Onmyojimon pulled out a talisman with the kanji for "deal" written on it. Whatever their deals were, they were written on the back in a language that none of them could read. She held it in front of her and instructed them to hold out their digivices.

The followed her instructions and a light filled the corridor as they repeated after the priestess. With each word, their digivices grip's colors changed to gray. "I swear allegiance to the great destruction to bring everything to back to what it should be. I shall follow the Mourning Star."

~X:::::::::X~

The five had spent several days in Cherubimon's residence at the Crystal Castle to allow the humans to get accustom to their Spirits and fighting with them.

Midday had reached the Forest Terminal. Sayuri had approached the table for lunch and sat down between Shinya and Minoru. He heard the not so subtle noise of a chair scooting across the stone floor. Tommy looked up and noticed the confused look on Sayuri's face.

After the lunch was finished and the dishes taken away by Sorcermon, Sayuri walked up to the new goggle-head. Tommy raised an eyebrow and asked a little rudely, "What do you want?"

Sayuri returned his contempt with her own gaze but ignored it. "Have you noticed that Shinya's been acting strange?" she inquired, nodding over towards Shinya, who was on the other side of the room.

Tommy made a face. "If that's the case, why are you asking _me_? Go and ask Shinya himself," Tommy answered turning back to his DT2, which looked far more interesting than the girl's said troubles.

"I've _tried_," she answered, exasperated, putting her hands on her hips. "He won't even allow me to get in three feet of him let alone say a word. I thought _you'd _know something about it since you're both- well- friends and maybe he talked to you about it!"

Tommy answered, not looking up from his DT2, "I haven't noticed."

Sayuri let out an exssaperated groan. "You're such a _great _friend," she said sarcastically. "What an unfeeling little-."

Tommy getting to his feet, replied angrily, "Me? Unfeeling? Like you're one to talk. You wouldn't think of anyone else when you were originally handed that Spirit of yours. Shannon is so much better Warrior of Water than you are."

"How do you know that for sure, huh?" she shouted, pointing a finger at him. "I'm sure whoever was holder of those goggles were so much better than you are!"

"And you can know that, how?" he repeated.

Sam heard the argument and flinched. He got up and went over to them. "Tommy. Sayuri," he shouted quickly, trying to get their attention. The two looked back at him with ghosts of anger still lingering on their faces. The boy frowned. "Please… stop fighting," he pleaded. "We're all friends here… right?"

Tommy relaxed. It was hard to ignore the boy's cute face and innocent nature. Just to comfort the boy, he answered in the affirmative. "Yeah, we're all friends here."

Sayuri didn't answer the youngest member but murmured the same thing to herself. _That's right. We're all on the same side here… _The female turned away and walked out of the room to go take a walk around the Crystal Castle.

~X:::::::::X~

During dinner, Shinya still kept away from Sayuri and Minoru. Even if he was trying to keep it subtle, he was failing horribly. Minoru ignored it. Sayuri didn't say anything about it, not wanting to cause a scene.

"Why do you think these terrorist attacks are going on _here_ of all places?" Sayuri asked, directing it to the others.

Tommy swallowed his mouthful before speaking what he thought. "Maybe it has something to do with how the place is being run?" he suggested. "Or maybe they just don't like Cherubimon, plain and simple?"

Shinya shook his head. "Terrorism doesn't happen when they just don't like someone, Tommy. Terrorism happens because they don't like the way government is being run and they want to take it down, want to be independent from a mother region, or religious reasons most of the time," he explained. "Governments are meant to keep order, provide laws, protect the basic human rights, and provide a sense of security for the citizens. Terrorists attack the population so that they strike fear into the hearts of citizens and make them feel unsafe and loose faith in their government."

"With the fear stricken populace that has no faith in their government, order is destroyed and the government falls apart. With no functioning government, a country can fall into disarray," Minoru continued. "These guys want to break up the government, most likely to rebuild it and make their own."

"Unless its religious," mentioned Shinya. "It could be that they think that Cherubimon's evil or is leading them there or they have some other reasons."

"Is there more than one nation or state here?" Minoru asked. "That could help us determine their reasons."

Tommy couldn't believe what he was seeing. Shinya and Minoru never cared for each other but here, they were debating about something as if they were on a talk show. Both seemed mildly surprised about this but astonishment was lost in their debate. Somehow they moved from terrorism to how similar the two worlds were.

Whatever they were saying seemed to be lost to the three others. Sam looked at Tommy, asking, "What do they mean about a 'multi-verse'?"

Tommy just shrugged with a grimace. Sayuri looked at the goggle-head with a bemused look. "I never thought that these two could debate about something like this. This trip is just one surprise after another," she said.

Shinya paused his conversation with Minoru to reply, "Wait until you had meat apples. That would top everything that you've ever seen."

"No, Duskmon was the weirdest thing on the face of the planet," Tommy corrected, holding back a smile. "Watching a giant eyeball walk around was just creepy as hell. He had seven all over his body!" The Warrior of Wood stood up and indicated to various parts on his body where the eyeballs had been on the old Tainted Warrior of Darkness.

This lead to bouts of the two who were used to the Digital World rattle of quick stories that sent Sayuri and Sam into fits of laughter and Minoru to chortle to himself. Dinner finally died down and the five drifted off to their rooms sleepily for bed.

Tommy, however, couldn't get to sleep. He could believe how well they were all already getting along. For a long time, he had seen Shinya and Minoru at odds but just today, they seemed to bond on some sort of level. Sayuri seemed to get along with almost anyone and Sam… well, he was just one of those kids that got along with anyone, really.

He got up, restless, and paced around his room. Even though the new team was getting along well, something was bothering him. They had been called to fight and protect the Digital World but here they were, sitting it safe.

It was so different from the first two times he had came to this world. He too, was a different person. The first time, he was a crybaby that was easily terrified and couldn't stand up for himself. The second time, he had been much braver and mature but still the same slightly naïve boy he had always been. Now, he was so much different. The Spirit that he held now signified that.

He decided to leave the room to do some thinking in hopes that a walk could help tire himself enough to get to sleep. As soon as he left the room and into the common room, much to his surprise, Tommy found that Sam was sitting in a chair. From the soft green glow of the crystals, he could see that Sam looked miserable.

Tommy frowned before approaching. He took a seat next to the younger boy. "Couldn't sleep?" Tommy asked.

Sam nodded.

"Nightmare?"

Sam shook his head. "I just miss home," he admitted. "I miss my onii-chan, my mom, and my dad." The boy clutched his legs and bit his lips.

Tommy knew that feeling all to well from his own first trip to the Digital World. "I know what you mean," he comforted, rustling the boy's hair and giving him a grin. "My first trip to the Digital World, I was scared and got homesick myself. When I got back, though, I found no time had passed." This didn't seem to help the boy out of his funk.

"When I first came, I was only your age and, let's just say, I wasn't as brave as you are being. In fact, I was scared when I got here."

Sam looked up in doubt. "You were scared? You couldn't have been scared!" said Sam.

"No, no, I was!" Tommy insisted. "I then got the Spirit of Ice, the one you have."

"Really?" exclaimed Sam, pulling out his Dt2 with the Ice symbol on it. A disbelieving smile graced the younger boy's face. "No way!"

Tommy nodded and his grin widened. "Way."

"Cool," cried Sam, almost a little too loudly. "I'm going to be strong like Tommy-nii and Shinya!"

Something pinged in Tommy's chest when he heard that, rendering him speechless. Tommy just resorted to rustling the boy's hair again. "Wanna come with me for a walk?"

Sam nodded eagerly. The two got up and headed out the door.

~X:::::::::X~

Minoru had awoken rather early than he was used to. He grumbled to himself, completely used to this kind of this. Whenever he stayed somewhere else than his own home for more than a night, he would in the early hours of the morning.

He sighed and got out of bed to take a walk around. Minoru let his feet carry him around the castle. He was semi surprised to find Shinya walking around himself. Despite the conversation that the two had shared, Shinya greeted him with the same dislike, as always, though it was much lighter than it normally was.

Minoru returned the silent greeting with a quick nod. He understood why Shinya had never liked him; no one really did at their school and that was the way Minoru preferred it. Silence, to him, was much better than all the attention other kids sought. Minoru was about to continue on his way, when a loud explosion caught their attention farther down the hall.

"What the-?" shouted Shinya but Minoru already had managed to register what was going to happen. He pulled out his digivice and began running towards the source of the explosion.

"Go tell the others that the castle is under attack!" Minoru yelled back to the boy.

"Like hell!" replied Shinya, pulling out his own Dt2 and quickly contacting the others. He quickly contacted Sayuri first, who turned out to be the only one not up, and then Tommy and Sam, who already knew. With that done, Shinya quickly Spirit Evolved into Bomberomon and raced after the Warrior of Darkness.

~X:::::::::X~

Tambomon and Eskimon found themselves caught in the middle of a battle with Opstandmon and Convulsmon. For reasons unknown to them, Convulsmon stayed away from directing attacks at Eskimon and focusing them at Tambomon. Not that Opstandmon had a problem with that. Eskimon had a hard enough time landing a hit on him with his hammer.

"Volt Punch!" Opstandmon launched a charged punch at Eskimon. The penguin Digimon desperately rolled away, barely dodging a stray bolt of electricity.

"I-Ice Pelts!" he cried, firing small ice pieces from his mouth at Opstandmon's face. One hit him in the eye, giving Eskimon a chance to bash him on the head with his ice hammer, not thinking that it would be a good idea to actually get away and call for help.

Opstandmon, in annoyance, thrashed out and hit the penguin in the stomach with his brass knuckles.

Tambomon was actually having much more luck with his opponent. He kept with the close combat to make sure that Convulsmon couldn't do anything that would fall under his element. He had to change his tactic when the spiked mace nearly hit him in the head. After ducking, Tambomon struck him hard in the stomach before backing away with the opportunity. About to plunge his bamboo swords into the ground, Tommy stopped dead when he heard Eskimon cry for help.

Abandoning his own battle, Tambomon turned his attention to Opstandmon, who was about to strike the Warrior of Ice with his cackling brass knuckles. "Sam! Opstandmon, let him GO!" he cried, racing forwards with his swords at the ready.

Opstandmon only smirked. Only seconds later, the floor under the panda Digimon's feet began shifting and falling. He cried out trying to clutch for stable floor. He managed to grab hold of some and above him he heard the laughter of Opstandmon. He walked over to the hole with a smirk on his face.

"You just don't get it Tommy," he chortled. "No matter what form you take, you won't be able to beat Katsuro Matsumoto."

Tommy gripped the ledge as hard as he could. "Won't you just shut up?" muttered Tambomon, gritting his teeth in rage.

~X:::::::::X~

Bruemon may have been entirely made of metal but he was pretty fast. Bomberomon had a slight hard time catching up with him but Shinya was manage to slightly read the movements that Bruemon was going to use. By projecting any attack ahead of the moving Digimon, it had hit more times than not but when it didn't, it had stopped Bruemon from going on his bee line run into Nocturmon.

Principatmon stayed in the air, so Nocturmon had to either jump to land a hit with his short sword or get behind him to land an attack. Principatmon, on the other hand, stayed with only long-range attacks, creating arrows of light that were shot at the owl knight.

Bruemon, some how managing to see what Shinya was doing, had gotten behind him and fired a series of laser beams at Nocturmon's back with a shout of "Junkishi." Nocturmon flinched, crying out in pain as the beams pierced his armor and burned his skin.

Despite having the opportunity, Principatmon turned and glared at Bruemon. "I don't need you're help, Ichiro!" he shouted.

Bomberomon paused, shocked by the name. It repeated in his ears for a second. _Ichiro? Bruemon's Ichiro? No, don't freeze up now. There are other people with the name Ichiro_, he thought quickly shaking it off just as Bruemon had made a beeline straight for him. He summoned a dagger in his hands and it went ablaze with flame.

"Forward Dash!"

"Incendira!"

Bomberomon's dagger had pierced the head's armor where it came to a round point. The helmet cracked enough to have it stretch across the entirety of the head. Bomberomon smirked before drawing back and readying a flaming punch.

Bruemon jumped away just as soon as the lion Digimon launched it. The attack was enough to force the machine Digimon to revert into a cocoon of swirling data as he turned back into his human self. Shinya gulped and his eyes widened. _No, it can't be…_

"Now, Shinya-kun, that wasn't a good idea," said Ichiro pleasantly, unaffected by the defeat. He pushed up his cracked glasses before smiling at the lion Digimon.

Bomberomon just gapped in disbelief. "_You're_…" he finally managed to croak out.

"Yes, I am," he answered, still keeping a straight face. This only enraged Shinya. How was he taking this so calm?

"Why? You attacked your own brother! Your own friends! HOW COULD YOU, ICHIRO?" Shinya demanded, his expression starting to darken.

What Ichiro said made Shinya snap. "Friends? Brother? What good does that do me when my destiny called me?" he asked.

The infamous Kanbara blood began to boil. Despite Shinya's calmer nature compared to his brother, anger had always been a problem with him. _He was just deceiving us from the start. I can't believe we were fool enough to fall for it!_

"Fine then, Fukumoto," Bomberomon stated, switching his blade's position in his hand. The fire on it flared up even higher to match his rage. "Fine. You're no longer a friend of mine."

Ichiro didn't even try to keep up the façade that he claimed to have kept up. No other emotion save for the sickening sweet and pleasant smile crossed his face. The old Ichiro that Shinya had known disappeared as if he never existed.

~X:::::::::X~

"You know, you talk to much," said the voice of Angalomon, landing easily on the ground after crashing headlong into Opstandmon. Eskimon, released, fell to the ground and struggled to his feet, only to revert to his human self. With the time, Tambomon pulled himself up and back into the battle. To his surprise, not only did the Warrior of Water come to his aid (much to his annoyance) but also a group of the Crystal Castle's guards.

Angalomon turned back to him. "Sorry I took so long," she apologized.

Tambomon just grumbled, "I was doing fine."

Angalomon snorted in annoyance, only to turn to a new battle. Somehow, Tenssemon had managed to get into the fight. Opstandmon finally pulled himself together and off the floor. "Damn brat," he muttered, wincing.

Tommy didn't decide to think about where Angalomon had hit him and dashed forwards to cover Sam as he tried to get away, his bamboo blades at the ready. He stuck his bamboo rods into the ground to call forth the rods but stopped suddenly, just in time to catch the mace, landing Tambomon and Convulsmon in a weapon lock.

Opstandmon smirked smugly as he ran forwards with his brass knuckles sparking. Fortunately, Angalomon and Tenssemon were busy with their own battle, so it was purely chance when the two crashed into Opstandmon, causing him to fall but for the Warriors of Wind and Water to get electrocuted.

A blast of energy from one of the guards knocked the mole-like Digimon off balance enough for Tambomon to send him to the ground before rushing to Angalomon's aid as she numbly tried to get untangled and get away from Opstandmon's kicks.

He batted the ape's hand away with his sword as to not get hit by any electricity and at the same time, grabbing his comrade and throwing the small girl over his shoulders before jumping to safety where Sam had been taken behind the guards.

Opstandmon, Tenssemon, and Convulsmon all got to their feet in hopes to combat their enemies, despite being outnumbered. A sudden call from somewhere rang out among them:

"We're out numbered. Everyone, fall back!" It was a voice that the one side didn't recognize at all but it caused the three to growl, allowing the others to safely assume that it was the enemies' commander that led the invasion.

Opstandmon was the one who stated his annoyance first. "I can't believe it!" he howled in rage. "That damn priest-!"

"You heard what Onmyojimon said," Tenssemon stated, disappointed as well. "I'd hate to leave but she's right."

Convulsmon nodded. Gripping his mace, he threw it at the crystal window, shattering it and raced to follow his mace, jumping out the window. Tenssemon and Opstandmon followed reluctantly.

**~:-:~**

**Sorry this one took so long as well. I've been having a hard time. I have to admit, Mourning Star's predicament is a bit inspired by the Greek mythology with the Titans being sealed away but more like the _Hercules _Disney movie with the glowing cover idea. Guess I could also say I'm also kind of borrowing the pit talking to them is a bit borrowed from _Percy Jackson and the Olympians._ Your call though, guys. :/**

**Oh! I did manage to finish planning this story. It's a whopper all right: Sixty-seven chapters with the epilogue to tie up the saga (sixty-eight counting chapter zero). This plus _A Changed Destiny _will be upwards to a hundred some chapters. Oh, crap… what have I gotten myself into? At least I love this series. I managed to finish _Somebody's Hero_ without too much trouble. I should be able to do it with this one.**

**EDIT: Yeah, I got stupid and used the wrong name. The Taliban was the Muslim-based government. Decided to edit that part just a little. Thanks to Immortal Fallen Radiance for bringing that to my attention! Oh, and please note that this can get a little religious where some people think it's anti even. Just a tiny bit. I don't mean to offend anyone with that. Please also note that I'm Christian and I'm really open-minded and not afraid to explore the negativities of religion. So, sorry to anyone that it may offend (but I kind of doubt that will be the case) in advance.**


	6. Episode 5: Mysterious Festival

~X:::::::::X~ Change of scene

~:-:~ End of chapter

**A/N: Thank you to luv2write and laugh, Immortal Fallen Radiance, darkhaseo90, and Starowner for reviewing. A couple of notes: For starters, I did change Shin's (new Thunder Warrior) to a different name since Shinya already had a name very close to it. It's now Katsuro (or just Katsu as a nickname). Second, I edited the last chapter a tiny bit. Anyway, onto the story.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. I do own the heaps of OCs in this story though and the weird plotline. That's it.**

Episode 5: Mysterious Festival

Cherubimon looked at his two guards. Their attackers had gotten away only a few minutes before. He worried about the humans, all five of them. Despite the fact that human children had saved their world twice over but the majority of these humans were different. Only one had been among those who had been the original _five_.

Despite all that, he listened to what his guards had to say. Sorcermon began, "It was a Sakuyamon in dark armor. She was coming after you."

Cherubimon nodded. It had been Onmyojimon; it wasn't too big of a surprise. Antylmon picked up where the wizard left off. "She also mentioned something about the coming 'Mourning Star' and 'everything returning to how it had begun'," she explained. Her eyes narrowed in puzzlement. "Master Cherubimon, what does she mean by that? This Mourning Star and 'how everything begun'?"

Cherubimon shook his head sadly. "I don't know," he answered. "I may be the Great Angel charged with the history and knowledge of the Digital World but it only goes so far back. But… Bokomon did tell me of a place not too far from where my castle stands is a tunnel that holds all the information about the Digital World's history. We'll have to send someone there."

That's where the doors burst open, revealing several injured Digimon and the five humans as they came before the ruler. The various Digimon had minor injuries for the most part. The humans themselves had a few bruises, namely the dark haired boy, who was wincing as he walked, and the Warrior of Ice who had a puffy face and was clenching his stomach. Besides that, though, they were all okay. Cherubimon let out a sigh of relief before having one of the not so injured guards to get as many medics as possible.

Shinya and Sayuri had gone to fetch their medical equipment so that they could tend to their comrades' wounds. On their way to their rooms, Sayuri looked the boy up and down. "You okay?" she asked as she stopped.

This caught the other boy off guard. He stopped as well and looked at her, eyes full of concern. He flinched, turning bright red and turning his face away. Shinya paused before answering. "It's Ichiro," he answered, clenching his fist. "He's… Bruemon."

Sayuri blinked. "Bruemon? You mean that Digimon that looks like an anime robot?" she asked. "That's your friend? He's that guy…?"

Shinya nodded. "What's so irritating is how indifferent he seemed! It was like he didn't care about Tommy or me or Sam! He was fooling us all this time! All of us!" He suddenly punched the wall with all the force he could muster from his anger.

Sayuri flinched. She had never seen the Warrior of Flame act this way before. The Warrior of Water had always thought Shinya had been a much calmer person. She paused, unsure what to say. _"We're no longer friends. I've always hated you."_ Sayuri shook off the overcoming feeling of anger that was flooding her and turned her attention back to Shinya.

"It's hard to imagine people can betray us…" she said softly, "but they can. If you want to talk about it, you know, Shinya, you can talk to Tommy or me about it. I know how close you two are."

"Not now," Shinya sighed, bringing his fist away from the wall and examining the trickle of blood that was falling from each of his knuckles. "We have more important things to worry about." He turned towards her with a grimace.

Sayuri gave him a half smile. "Right," she stated. "Let's get those medical supplies and bandage that hand of yours up." She pointed to his knuckles with a frown. "This trip _is _just full of surprises."

~X:::::::::X~

When the two had gotten back to the throne room where the others were waiting, Tommy gave them a frown. "You two were taking forever! What was taking so long, huh?" Tommy asked, directing the question towards Shinya. Fortunately, he was standing with his back to the girl so she didn't see him flush from embarrassment.

Sayuri threw a roll of bandages at his face with a little too much force. "We didn't take that long," she answered with a frown.

Tommy glared up at her and rubbed his face where the cloth had hit him, mocking her slightly but the girl took no notice before turning her attention towards Minoru and examining his burn on his back.

"Do you have to tease her?" Shinya demanded quietly. "She isn't that bad, Tommy." He examined Sam's face, bandaging up a cut on his head and putting an instant ice pack on the boy's face to hopefully deflate some of the swelling.

"I don't like her, okay," Tommy answered. "She always seems too much on a high horse. She just gives off that vibe ever since I met her."

Shinya frowned in response. "You have that completely wrong. She's actually much more humble than you think."

Tommy didn't answer. He looked over at the girl with a frown.

Meanwhile, Bokomon walked over to Cherubimon that was now giving orders to different guards to stay on high alert. "You called me, Master Cherubimon?" he asked. The Great Angel looked towards Bokomon before turning back to Antylmon and finished giving her the orders before she left the room, leaving Bokomon and Sorcermon with Cherubimon.

Cherubimon turned back towards Bokomon. "You remember that tunnel that you told me about?" asked he.

Bokomon cocked his head to the side. "I told you about a lot of different tunnels in the Digital World, Sir. There were the tunnels that lead to the underground caver that lead away from here, the tunnels that connected Volcano City to Lake City-."

Cherubimon shook his head. "No, my dear friend, I mean the tunnel filled with the Digital World's history," he sighed. Sometimes, Bokomon would go a little to deep into possibilities.

"Oh! That one…" Bokomon trailed off embarrassedly. The gnome Digimon regained his composure before continuing. "Erm, what about that one, Lord Cherubimon?"

"I need you to go there," Cherubimon explained. "This Digimon has been around long enough for the tunnel to know of it, yes?"

"I believe so," Bokomon answered. "The tunnel was able to tell us everything that we needed to know of the past." Bokomon paused for a second. "What exactly would you need me to find?"

Cherubimon nodded. "Of course. There is a Digimon being called by the name 'Mourning Star'. I want you to figure out who it is and what does it mean by 'bringing everything back to its beginning. Sorcermon will go with you for protection. I want you to head out immediately."

Both Digimon nodded before running off with their mission. It would be a good decent while to get to the Dark Terminal.

~X:::::::::X~

After resting for a short while and a quick lunch, the five humans got ready to leave. Tommy gathered his bag from his room only to notice that Sayuri was waiting for the others on the chair in the common room. He eyes rested on the rainbow given off of the crystal walls as the sunlight streaming through hit the wall.

Something in the back of his mind roared at him. Tommy bit his inner lip in annoyance. He approached the girl, causing her to look at him. Reading the look on his face, her face contorted into one of annoyance. "What do you want? Here to ridicule me, again, huh, Tommy?" she asked.

Tommy bit back a retort. _Just get it over with before anyone else sees you!_ "Look, thanks for helping me back there, okay?" he said quickly.

Sayuri was pleasantly surprised with what he had said. She raised her eyebrows in disbelief before deciding that her ears had actually heard what she thought the boy had said. "Well… You're welcome. We're comrades, after all, right?" she answered.

"Yeah, I guess," he answered awkwardly before his pride took over and adding, "but next time, how about you ask me if I need your help!"

The last statement infuriated the brown haired girl. "Fine, I'll let you die then and save Sam next time!" Then for good measure, she added, "You over grown moron!"

"Moron?" he shouted. "You can't keep your business out of mine!"

"Oh, fine then, you want to die?"

"I won't die next time!"

The sudden eruption of an argument made Sam and Shinya poke their heads out of their doors worriedly. Minoru walked into the room, sighing. "Can you two save it for later?" he muttered.

"They look like Satoshi and Kasumi!" pointed out Sam. "They argue all the time and my cousin says that they love each other. Maybe it's like that for Tommy-nii and Sayuri?"

"Oh HELL NO!" shouted Tommy and Sayuri. They pointed at each other and began throwing insults at each other.

Minoru sighed. "They have a long way to go if it is like that," he said, taking a chair and waiting for the squabble to settle.

Shinya frowned, wondering why the two had started off on the given fight. He sighed and sat down. He always hoped that they could at least stand each other but if they kept this up… _They're going to be arguing even worse than Takuya and Koji did._

Finally, it calmed down enough for Shinya to step in and point out that it was about time for them to get going. "Right," Tommy finally answered, casting a glare at the girl that returned it.

"Do you really have to?" Shinya whispered.

"She started it," Tommy answered.

"Un-huh," Shinya answered, disbelief apparent in his voice. Tommy decided to hold back his next comment.

~X:::::::::X~

The five had traveled for several hours, stopping a few times. It was slowly getting late. They decided it would be a good idea to stop for the night and set up camp. After making the campfire and gathering some fallen branches from the forest around them, Minoru looked towards Tommy. "Himi, any idea which way we should head?" he asked.

"Err," Tommy began, looking at his Dt2. "I honestly don't know. Both times I came here we just wandered around. We just came upon the Spirits by chance, really."

"Well, that's an idea," muttered Minoru. "We have to have some plan of action here."

"We _could_ if we know where the Spirits were anyway," Shinya said. "Without, we might as well wander aimlessly for them."

"There is a way for us to know when we're close to a Spirit," Tommy spoke up. "Our D-tectors had always alerted us when we were close one giving off a high pitched ringing. Maybe it'll be the same with our Dt2's."

"So, we're just going to walk around and _hope_ that we come across a Spirit?" asked Sayuri skeptically. "Some plan."

"It'll work out," Sam said pointedly. "It worked for Tommy-nii, it has to work for us!"

Tommy smiled. "See?" he said. "We'll start looking around tomorrow after breakfast, bright and early, okay? Now let's see if we can find some meat apples."

The four exchanged looks. "Meat apples?" they asked as their leader left with a blanket folded under

Within minutes, the brown haired boy came back with a blanket full of green apples. He took five sticks from the stick pile and stuck the apples onto them and handed each one to the others. Sam was about to eat it but Tommy stopped him.

"Don't eat them raw! It's like eating raw meat. You have to roast it," Tommy explained, putting his own over the fire, "just like roasting marshmallows."

The others exchanged looks but followed suit and allowed them to roast. After letting it roast for ten minutes, Tommy took one of his meat apples and began taking a bite into it. "Dig in, everybody!" he began but something whistling stopped them.

"Hit the deck!" shouted Shinya after some yelled look out. The five scrambled out of the way just as something crashed into the fire and exploded in a brilliant flare of colors and scattering the firewood. The five scrambled out from behind their hiding places with their Dt2s all at the ready.

"Gosh! Sorry, sorry, sorry!" cried a voice as a small creature came running towards them. He stopped dead in his tracks when he saw a group of humanoid Digimon, all ready for a fight. The female quickly put out the fires.

"Are you the one who sent the missile at us?" growled Nocturmon, holding out his short sword, inches away from the Digimon's neck.

The small Digimon that looked like a pink blob cowered against the threat. "That was an accident. I didn't mean to do that. I was testing my fireworks for the festival tonight but the rocket fell over and blasted your way," the Digimon explained.

"What is that thing?" asked Eskimon. "It's cool!"

Tambomon sighed. "That thing isn't a problem. It's a Mochimon, so it shouldn't be a problem," he said, de-evolving into his human form.

Sayuri checked him over and then followed Tommy's example. "He's right," she said. "It looks more scared of us than we are of it." With that, Sam and Shinya de-evolved as well. Minoru checked him over one last time before deciding that it wasn't really a threat.

With all five de-evolved, Mochimon gave out a sigh of relief. "You had me going there, humans," he sighed. "How are you able to Spirit Evolve?"

"Long story," Tommy answered. He didn't really want to say anymore than they had to. JP had once made the mistake of announcing that they were the Legendary Warriors to the wrong people and they ended up being tied to the side of a mountain because of a group of ShellNumemon's assumptions of them being in cahoots with Grumblemon after he had kidnapped their village's females.

Mochimon seemed to take it. "Ah, yes. I almost killed you, so I'm in no position in asking about your private lives," he apologized, bowing slightly, "but I am obliged to bringing you to my village as my way of saying sorry."

"Sounds good to me!" cheered Sam and Sayuri. A village sounded like a better place to bunk for the night than out in the open.

"But what about the food we cooked?" asked Tommy, pointing back at the cooked meat apples.

"Our festival has plenty of cooked food that are _much _better than meat apples," Mochimon said, waving a clawed hand. "Trust me."

"I guess that's okay," Shinya sighed, motioning for Mochimon to lead them to his village. Mochimon did so but he made sure that the others walked a good few yards behind Mochimon.

Tommy looked slightly hurt and muttered something about his hard work. "Guys, we're not going to be able to stay long," Shinya said.

Minoru looked at the group. "At the first sign of trouble, we're going to have to run," he said. "Enemies can be anywhere."

"How can they be enemies?" asked Sam, confused. His childish innocence was blinding him from the possible danger. "They're being kind and everything to us. How can they be bad?"

Minoru sighed.

"Just because one person is good doesn't mean we won't come across any bad guys," Sayuri explained gently. "There is a mass amount of people in a festival. There might be some bad guys that we don't know of in there."

"I think I get it," he replied with a frown, "but why would anyone want to go to a festival to cause trouble?" The group didn't answer and began catching up to Mochimon after the group finally finished up their exchange of warnings.

They finally arrived at the village just before the sun set. Well, it was hard to call it a village. It looked more like a part of the forest but the only thing that gave away that the village was indeed a village was by the colored streamers that were stretched a cross the trees and the Digimon walking in and out of houses that seemed to built into the tree trunks themselves.

"Oh, wow," gasped Minoru, Sayuri, and Sam.

"Man, what number of festivals is this that I've been to in the Digital World?" Tommy mused to himself.

"How many?" joked Shinya.

Mochimon lead them around the village, explaining about various parts of the village's history and delectables belonging to the village. Sayuri smelled something that smelled of fresh baked pastries and ran over to it, licking her lips. Much to her surprise, the Digimon running the stand handed it over to her for free.

"Huh but don't you have to pay?" she asked.

Mochimon followed her with the others trailing over behind him. "Everything is free here. There's no need for money in this tiny community," he explained. "Have as much as you wish." The five wandered the streets for a while, even after dark and the street torches had been lit to keep out the darkness of the night.

It had been an hour since they began walking. Tommy suddenly stopped and looked around. "Hey, guys? Where's Sam?" he asked, noticing that their younger member was missing. They also noticed that Mochimon had disappeared during the hour.

"I didn't see him leave," Sayuri said.

"Maybe he went to the bathroom somewhere?" Shinya suggested.

Minoru shook his head. The boy had a sinking feeling or maybe it was being in such a big crowd. "Let's split up. It'll cover more ground," he suggested.

"Uh, yeah," agreed Tommy. _And I thought I was the leader around here._

The four ran in opposite directions. Minoru slipped between the houses for cover. "I'm finally out of that crowd," he sighed. "I knew we should have just stayed where we were." Minoru pulled out his digivice and turned on the map. Five blips with different symbols next were laid on the map. Two (one he knew was his) were stationary while three others were running around. He guessed the stationary one was Sam's. He got up and headed towards where the dot was.

~X:::::::::X~

Tommy looked around the small village. Villagers were running down the street, yelling, "We're going to be late for the grand finale!"

Tommy stopped and watched them go for a second. _Grand finale? Must be with those fireworks that Mochimon said he was working on, _he thought. He pushed it out of his mind before continuing on his way. Before he knew it, something smacked the back of his head and he went down, unconscious before he hit the ground.

~X:::::::::X~

Sayuri was just walking around the village looking for the boy. The streets began to clear out a bit. She watched them go. _Maybe it's getting late for them? _She thought to herself but that didn't stop the strange feeling in her gut from making her watch as they headed in the opposite direction that she was going. The thing was, they were going hastily.

The female Warrior decided to pull out her Dt2 and try to contact the others, maybe Sam, to find out where he was or to check how the others were doing but a rope was thrown around her neck. She gagged as she was pulled to the ground, knocking the wind out of her and having her Dt2 go flying out of her hands as she landed. The coughing girl wasn't too much of a problem to tie up but she still struggled to get free.

A sweet smelling powder filled her nose and mouth as she gasped for breath. She coughed and continued but her struggling became not as strong until she finally stopped and drifting out of consciousness.

~X:::::::::X~

Shinya checked his Dt2 for where the others might have been. He had tried to contact Sayuri and Tommy but to no avail. He frowned and switched it towards Minoru, checking off on his progress. Much to the Warrior of Flame's relief, Minoru had picked up.

"So, how's the searching going?" Shinya asked.

"I'm close to where Sam is. Tell everyone we'll meet up in the square before getting out of here," came Minoru's answer. "How can you stand crowds like that, Kanbara?"

"Well, that's the problem," the boy answered, unsure. "I haven't been able to contact Tommy or Sayuri. I think something may have happened to them. Hang on a second."

~X:::::::::X~

Minoru did wait. He listened intently and then stopped dead in his tracks. On the other end, he could hear a scuffle and cries from the Flame Warrior before the line disconnected. Minoru pocketed his Dt2 and began running towards Sam in a hurry.

"Splitting up," he criticized himself, "great plan. Sam! Where the hell are you?" It was his stupid suggestion that had gotten everyone put into danger but right now wasn't the time to feel guilty. Sam was in danger and Minoru was the closest one to the boy and knew of what was going to happen.

He quickly pulled out his Dt2 again and Spirit Evolved into Nocturmon. Within minutes, he came to a river where Sam's dot had been. Only a few yards away, he could see two figures illuminated faintly with the three moons' light. The Warrior of Darkness drew his sword and rushed at the figure that was reaching for the younger boy.

He quickly sliced at the Digimon, startling the human child as he heard the cry of pain. The Digimon, a giant red looking oni Digimon wearing a tiger pelt loincloth and armbands.

"Minoru?" cried Sam, spinning around. His face was agape in horror. "Don't hurt him! Fugamon was just-."

"Going to try to kidnap you. His comrades did it to the rest of the team," Nocturmon cut in before turning his attention back to Fugamon. "What do you want with us?"

The Digimon held his hands out in front of him. "Don't kill me!" he whined. "There's going to be a sacrifice and we needed people to do it."

"And you chose us since we were passing by, huh?" he asked. "What stupid deity do you follow?"

Fugamon didn't answer at first. He looked behind where the black knight was standing and smirked. "You'll soon find out," he answered.

"Minoru!" screamed Sam. Nocturmon took a look behind him, seeing a group of five Digimon coming out of the tree line and towards the river.

"Sam, Spirit Evolve. NOW!"

**~:-:~**

**Well, another chapter done. Satoshi and Kasumi are basically Ash and Misty's Japanese names. Yeah, there's a little Pokeshipping mentioned in there for those of my readers that support that Pokemon shipping. How is Sam even able to watch it? Well, his cousin has the old box set and allows him to watch it. Thought I'd have some fun with that. (Now to wait for the flames from other shippers.) Please note that, yes, Shinya did go on an adventure but it only lasted a month (that he remembers), so he doesn't know about some of the weird tasting food such as the meat apples or odd tasting cabbages.**

**Anyway, I'm glad this one didn't take as long as the last one did. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	7. Episode 6: Mourning Star

~X:::::::::X~ Change of scene

~:-:~ End of chapter

A/N: Thanks to luv2write and laugh, darkhaseo90, Immortal Fallen Radiance, Starowner, and RazenX for reviewing. ^^ These guys are getting a lot of crap and will get even more.

Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon in any way. I do own any and all OCs that appears in this story, though, and the plot.

Episode 6: Mourning Star

Nocturmon and Eskimon had an easy time fighting off the small horde of Digimon, because of two things: Eskimon had summoned a mist, aiding Nocturmon in silent stealth attacks and also because a majority of them were Rookie and In-training Digimon. The only ones that caused them any trouble were a silver kyubi and the Fugamon.

Fugamon was the only one left after the battle. He was just as he was before his friend's had arrived, weak and pathetic. In some cases, mercy would have shown through but Minoru wasn't one of those. He and his "friends" had threatened his own; no mercy would be shown here.

"Wait, Minoru!" cried Eskimon, running over to him, making Nocturmon stop and look over at the boy with the sword poised centimeters from the enemy Digimon's throat. "Don't kill him."

"Why?" Nocturmon asked, his tone a little sharper than he normally had it at.

"He…" Eskimon began but cut off weakly. He looked down. "Why would he do such a thing?"

Nocturmon looked at him for a minute. Beneath the Digimon skin and armor, all that really was there was a young boy that was confused. It slightly bewildered Minoru why but he simply answered, "He was using us. This thing didn't really care." For a minute, his mind wandered to Ichiro and the hurt that Shinya had shown. He gritted his teeth, imagining what would happen if Sam had learned about this.

With a swift stroke of his short sword, Nocturmon ended the Digimon's life as frustration coursed through him. The boy's question filled his mind. _Why would someone leave behind something so great?_

Eskimon's lower lip trembled at what he saw. His eyes were filled with horror and shock and the next thing Nocturmon knew, the small Digimon turned back into his human form and collapsed into the shallow water, breaking down and crying.

Minoru felt bad but now wasn't the time for regret. He walked over to the boy and picking him up in his arms. "Hey," he comforted, though it sounded awkward as it escaped his lips, "Sam, we can't have this now. Tommy, Shinya, and Sayuri are still in trouble. If we don't help them, they're going to get killed."

That didn't help in anyway, only making the boy freeze up and grip the knight Digimon to control his shaking. Minoru drew a blank of what to do next.

"Look, you want to help them? You have to be strong like the warrior you are," Nocturmon finally managed to say. "I know you can be strong."

The boy sniffed. "T-that's right," he stuttered. "I-I want t-to… be s-strong like T-Tommy-nii, Shinya, and everyone e-else." Sam's shaking calmed down but when Nocturmon looked at him, he could see that the boy still was in slight shock about what had happened. The Warrior of Darkness began to doubt that it was a good idea to have the eight-year-old with them.

~X:::::::::X~

"Tommy! Shinya! Wake up!" The cry sounded frightened, shaky, a little hoarse, and right in his ear. Tommy slowly came too, recognizing that the voice belonged to Sayuri. His thoughts began flying, guessing she was in trouble. His eyes flew open and he tried to reach for his Dt2, only to realize that his hands were tied up above his head and thus were immobilized. He would have thought about what he felt but panic over came him quicker than confusion.

Sayuri kept telling him to wake up but Tommy cut her off with a quick, "I'm up! You don't have to keep shouting-! There's no-." One look around cut him off quickly. He found that they were right in the middle of a crowd holding torches and various weapons. He looked up at his tied hands to see that he and the others were tied to a giant slab of rock.

He looked left and right, seeing that Sayuri was on his one side and Shinya on the other, the boy still completely out cold. Since his feet were on solid ground, he launched an awkward sideways kick at his friend.

It did enough to jar the brunet awake, making him groggily come to. It only took a second to register what Tommy had seen. He gasped, eye's bulging as he gave out a cry of, "What the heck?"

"Shinya, Tommy, any idea of what's going on?" Sayuri asked, biting her lip.

"No idea," both answered before Shinya added, "Any idea where Minoru and Sam are?"

"No idea. I just hope that _these _guys didn't get a hold of them!" Tommy answered, eyeing the crowd. "They look like a bunch of weirdoes."

At set sharp weapons were pointed at them, threatening to skewer them. "Shut up! Sacrifices to the Mourning Star don't speak!" shouted a Porcupamon that the others could only guess was the leader of the positions.

"Sacrifices?" Sayuri asked, her heart sinking. "Like a…"

"Human sacrifices," Shinya answered grimly. "These guys are apart of some kind of cult."

The sticks were shoved even closer to them. "Be quiet!" ordered the Porcupamon angrily before turning to his kinsman. "May the rest of the festival dedicated to the Mourning Star commence!"

_Mourning Star?_ Tommy thought, eyes narrowing.

"Wait! You can't!" shouted Sayuri, struggling against her bondage. "You can't sacrifice us! Whatever happened to basic rights to live? You can't do this!"

Porcupamon growled in annoyance. "Grab the girl first," he ordered. Upon his command, several Fugamon began heading towards her and untying her from her post. She flailed, kicking several in her struggle to escape but it did no good, as they were smart enough to grab her feet as well.

"Leave her alone!" Shinya demanded, struggling against his own. "Take me! Hey, over grown teddy bear!" He wanted to tear himself away from the bondages that bound him to the rock slab and take on the entire cult with just his bear hands.

Tommy began to struggle as well. There would be no way he'd let his comrade die! Sayuri wasn't his most favorite person but no one deserved to be sacrificed to any stupid god. "Let her the hell go, you stupid mother-!" he shouted. Anger seeped from both boys as they failed to help their friend.

"Shinya! Tommy!" she screamed, panic coursing through her. "Let me go, you stupid, God damn-! LET ME GO!"

Her struggle continued but was futile. Their grip was too strong. Finally, they made it over to a stake in the middle of a mountain of firewood. An unintelligible chant began among the gathered Digimon as they roared in pleasure of the girl's coming end.

"SAYURI!"

The shouts escalated before coming to a stop. The puppet Digimon silenced them before he started to talk.

~X:::::::::X~

"What are they going to do with Sayuri?" Eskimon asked, fear trickling in his voice but he could guess that something bad was going to happen.

Nocturmon gritted his teeth and his eyes burned. "They're going to 'sacrifice' her by burning her at the stake, just like those accused witches back in Europe during the Medieval Times," he explained. "We have to stop this before it gets any farther."

Eskimon nodded. Sam knew that this would be no time to freeze up. His friends needed him and that's all he needed to think. These guys were threatening his friends and they needed his help. The penguin Digimon gripped the ice hammer tightly in his flipper-hands.

The three climbed into the trees and commenced their plan. Eskimon, from above, sent a fog below, stopping the chant from continuing as the Digimon looked around bewildered by what was going on. By the time they could gather what was going on, they had been attacked by something within the fog.

Eskimon ran towards the other two as Nocturmon headed towards Sayuri. The penguin bonked a Digimon on the head before taking a small dagger from him and jumping up on the slab of rock. He felt around for the ropes that tied his friends to the rock. He finally felt a rope and began cutting at it.

Below, he heard Tommy's voice saying something to Shinya but it was drowned out by the cries of battle. After cutting Shinya's rope, the Warrior of Ice dropped down from the back of the slab of rock and landed next to the two, scaring them. Since the fog was beginning to lift, he could make out Shinya and Tommy easily.

"Tommy-nii! Shinya! We have to get out of here!" he exclaimed.

"What about Sayuri?" questioned Shinya.

"And where's Minoru?" added Tommy.

"Minoru is going to get Sayuri," Eskimon quickly explained. "Minoru says to be quick or we're all going to get caught!"

The other two nodded, hands flying into their pockets. Despite being captured, their Dt2's were in their pockets. One would have thought about it for a second and they would have realized how stupid these Digimon were but that didn't even grace their minds. The two quickly Spirit Evolved and rushed into combat, following the small Digimon, lashing out at the various Digimon as they made their escape. By the time the fog disappeared, leaving behind a confused mob, the three had caught up with Nocturmon who had Sayuri clutching onto his back as he ran through the village.

They kept running for a good few hours before slowing down to a walk. As the sun rose, they kept moving, despite being tired and hungry but fear overruled this. By daybreak, they succumbed to their hunger and fatigueless. Sam collapsed first, falling to sleep quickly with Tommy and Minoru following. The only two that remained up were Shinya and Sayuri.

The boy looked at her worriedly. Despite being by the fire, she shivered. Sayuri held her knees to her chest as if it was a lifeline. Her eyes were staring at the fire as if in a trance. Shinya rose and walked over to her with his blanket that he had been sitting on trailing behind him. He draped it over her shoulders, jarring her from her shock and making her look up at him.

Shinya froze, staring into her fear stricken eyes. He wanted to reach out and hold on tight to her, comfort her. At the same time, he wanted to get back at those who had tried to hurt her. The two stared at each other for a long time before Sayuri finally broke the connection, reaching out to take his hand. "I…I was…" she began, shaking even worse.

Shinya sat down next to her, taking her hand in his. "I know you were scared. I was too," he said softly. "We all were." A feeling of helplessness washed over him. And he hated it.

She looked into the fire again. "I…I hate being afraid…" she said. "I thought…I was going to die." Sayuri gripped his hand harder before looking at him. "Promise you won't leave me?"

"Wha?" Shinya exclaimed, his face growing hot.

She let go of his hand. "This…I've never been so scared in my life. Even more than when…" Her voice trailed off. "Do you promise to not leave me?"

Shinya looked at her with a firm expression. "Of course," he answered. _I'd never leave you anyway,_ he added as an after thought.

A small smile graced her face before turning back to the fire. Sayuri felt as if her fear seemed more bearable and the world not so cold, as if a fire was warming it. Silent thankful tears fell down her face. She never felt so appreciated before and she wished it had stayed like that forever even though the wish was foolish in itself.

~X:::::::::X~

It was two days before anyone decided to even think about the incident. When they finally made camp, Tommy looked towards the girl. He furrowed his brows. Everything had been so vivid and fresh in his mind: every detail, every sound, every emotion… He shook his head. Everything made sense, except one emotion: relief and helplessness. The emotions did make sense but the magnitude of them was what confused him.

Helplessness was common in such a situation but it felt as if he would have gone nuts. And relief… It felt different than the relief he was use too. Tommy decided that it was way too strong to be just because of the situation. There was a third one that felt even odder… What was it?

"Tommy-nii! You're roasting your meat apple crisp!" exclaimed Sam, snapping Tommy back into reality.

He looked up and gave out a cry, pulling the apple away from the fire only to notice that it itself had caught on fire. He gave out a cry of surprise as he tried to put it out. A chorus of laughter reached his ears as his failed attempts managed to set another fire. That was followed by a cry of Evolution and a douse of water falling down on him and the fire.

A soaked Tommy glared over at the group. Sam was rolling around in laughter and Shinya looked as if he'd fall over from laughing so hard. Minoru shook his head but an amused grin had stretched across his face. Sayuri, who had turned into Angalomon to put out the fire walked over to him, suppressing her laughter.

Tommy flushed from embarrassment. "You could have hit the _fire_, not me!" he nearly shouted but it faltered, barely sounding angry.

"Sorry," she apologized with a coy grin. "You just happened to be way too close to it."

"Still, you could've _aimed_!"

"Look, I said sorry."

Before they both knew it, an argument was about to begin. Shinya stood up, coming in between both of them. "Aw, come on guys," he said, lightheartedness gone from his look. "Let's get back to dinner."

"Fine," both related, turning and taking their seats, which were unfortunately right next to each other. Shinya, deciding to keep them from starting another fight from the glares that the two were giving each other, went to sit between them. This appeased the two enough from not ripping each other's heads off.

"Mourning Star," Shinya finally said, breaking the silence. "Do you think that this could be tied to those Covent Bokomon mentioned? Or maybe with the terrorist attacks?"

"Covent?" inquired Minoru.

Shinya nodded. "For a while, I thought that the 'Covent', the terrorist group, the rebellion, and that person who wants the Spirits were all different people but seeing what we saw, the Covent could be the cult we saw. I wouldn't be surprised if they were the terrorists as well. The rebellion might not be too far from being lead by that person who wants our Spirits and the ones that might've caused the terrorist attacks."

Tommy listened, looking at his friend. "Isn't there a chance that they're all somehow connected?" he asked. "Like one causing the other or something?"

"Maybe," answered Minoru after swallowing a mouth full of meat apple. "But maybe not. We don't know enough. We can't go assuming anything though, we don't have enough information."

With that, they fell silent, munching on meat apples of varying tastes. Eventually, the cloud cover covered the moons, blocking out the light, casting the forest into darkness save the campfire. When a new light filled the forest, Tommy nearly dropped his meat apple.

"What is all of this?" asked Sayuri standing up.

"They're TV screens on the trees!" Sam blurted in amazement.

"This is… Television Forest," Tommy said, feeling a vague feeling of déjà vu overcoming him. "This place shows things from our world like this."

"You've been here?" Shinya asked, looking at the screens. Tommy nodded.

Sayuri looked around. "Hey, that's the Shibuya Station," she stated walking over to the screen showing a train station with the Hochiko statue in front of it.

"Hey, that's my house!" Sam shouted, walking over to the trunk with the white house in front of it with a smile on his face. Tommy frowned, hoping that his mother didn't walk out of the house.

Minoru kept his distance as he surveyed the area in confusion. "How can this even work?" he thought out loud.

"Just don't question it," Shinya suggested, looking over at Sayuri. For several seconds, she didn't move, entranced in something on the screen. Suddenly, something must've happened to make her back away from the screen as if she was trying to get away from a rabid animal. She let out a frustrated cry before running off.

Minoru, Sam, and Tommy watched her go all confused. "What was that about?" asked Tommy.

"What's wrong with Sayuri?" asked Sam, looking in the direction of her retreating figure.

Minoru walked over to the screen to look for something that would have made the girl angry. He finally found what he was looking for as a man with dark brown hair just left the screen.

Shinya got up and followed her. First, it wasn't a good idea for her to go off on her own but secondly, he thought it would be a bad idea if she was still slightly shaken up after the incident a few days ago.

Minoru pounded the tree and let out a sigh. The two remaining boys looked at each other. "What was that about?" Tommy asked.

"That man," Minoru sighed. "He's back."

"What man?" asked Sam, looking over at Minoru. The dark haired boy didn't answer, heading back to the fire and sitting down by it. Tommy and Sam followed quietly, both exchanging confused looks as they sat down by the fire.

~X:::::::::X~

Shinya finally came upon the sobbing girl. "Hey, Sayuri, you okay?" he asked before adding, "It really isn't such a good idea to be wandering off alone."

Sayuri looked up and wiped away tears from her red eyes. "I know," she answered, "but I want to be left alone."

Shinya frowned. He knew he couldn't and he also didn't want to. His promise haunted his mind for a few minutes before he sat down.

She looked up at him. "I said go away," she said, contorting her tear stricken face into a half-hearted glare.

Shinya just remained there, shaking his head. "No-can-do," he answered. "You can't be off on your own."

"I'm not a little girl," she retorted, voice falling. Shinya didn't answer, resulting the two to fall into silence. For several minutes, it remained like that.

Finally, Shinya broke the silence. "You know, talking about this helps," he offered. "My brother Takuya kind of taught me that when I was younger when I used to have nightmares. I normally went to him whenever I had one from then on. It does help, trust me."

Sayuri bowed her head, frowning. She hated what she was going to do but she gave in. "That man, he was my father. I saw him coming off the train station."

Shinya cocked his head in confusion. Normally when his father returned from business trips, he would have been happy to see him. "What do you mean?" he asked. "Wouldn't you be happy?"

She gave out a cruel sounding laugh. "Not after what _he _did," she snorted in disgust. "Let's just say he was a horrible parent."

"What do you mean?" he asked hoping to dig a little deeper but the girl didn't answer. Again, the two sat in silence; this one not seeming to end.

~X:::::::::X~

Sayuri had finally decided that it was time to leave. "Let's go," she said as she rose to her feet. She paused, wanting to say something else but refrained, feeling like she just looked like a giant brat earlier.

Shinya only answered, "Okay." They began heading back to the others but Shinya stopped, crying out in surprise.

Sayuri looked back at him, alarmed. Shinya pulled out his buzzing Dt2. He looked up at her and gave her an embarrassed look. Sayuri simply rolled her eyes and shook her head with a half amused smile. "What is it?" she asked. "The others calling for us?"

Shinya opened the flip part of the phone-like device and a 3-D screen popped up on it, a red blip flashing on it. "No," he said slowly. "I think it's a Beast Spirit…and it's close by."

"How close?" she asked.

"Not sure," he answered, studying it for a second. "Maybe it's within a half mile?"

"Well, let's contact the others and tell them that," she suggested.

Shinya agreed, closing the window and he began to contact the others.

"Don't think you're going to get that far," stated a female voice. The two looked up suddenly to see three figures that were Yuta, Michi, and Kouki.

"Michi," the girl growled, narrowing her eyes at the redhead. Michi returned her glare.

"So a Spirit is nearby," Yuta asked, cracking his knuckles. Kouki remained silent studying his opponents.

"Oh, is that so?" asked Michi, smirking. "Which way, then?"

"Like heck we're telling you!" Sayuri shouted before Shinya could even say the same thing. The Warrior of Water pulled out her Dt2. "You're not even going to get your hands on anything! Spirit Evolution!"

"We'll see about that," Michi answered.

**~:-:~**

**Yeah, this chapter is shorter, I know but I didn't really know what I should have written next. All I can say is that I'm making **_**really**_ **good time with this. Okay, maybe not time but my original plan had this chapter happening in chapter 9 and 10. I've cut everything down by three chapters so far. That's a holy crap for me. Maybe I can cut everything down into less than sixty chapters… Then again, maybe not. Well, hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	8. Episode 7: Didicasmon's Rampage

~X:::::::::X~ Change of scene

~:-:~ End of chapter

**A/N: God, it's been over a month since I last updated this story. Sorry about that. :( School for me is, well, not as hard just twice as crazy than what I'm used to. I have a lot more homework than I originally thought I would. (sighs)**

**Anyway, thanks to RazenX, darkhaseo90, Hikari no Destany, and Immortal Fallen Radiance for reviewing. Also, it appears that ShinSayu/Shinyuri has officially been named by Destany. ^^;**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Toei nor Bandai, therefore, one can assume the concept of Digimon is not my own. God, I think my English class is getting to me.**

Episode 7: Didicasmon's Rampage

Both sides wasted no time Spirit Evolving into their respected evolutions. Angalomon and Tenssemon went at each other, lashing water attacks and wind attacks with no remorse. On the other hand, Bomberomon had to face the Convulsmon and Principatmon tag-team. The Flame Warrior dodged to the best of his ability but several times his own fire attacks were doused with a misguided water jet and the other two had to dodge a torrent of wind blades that missed their intended target.

Convulsmon, even with the flying attacks, kept attacking his opponent close up. He had managed to close in on Bomberomon. The Earth Warrior tried to smash him from the head down, shouting, "Earth Cracking!" At the same time, Principatmon had fired a light arrow at Bomberomon.

Bomberomon threw himself sideways just before the two attacks landed with a massive boom where he had been seconds before. The force of the attack created a sudden fissure in the ground that zigzagged all the way towards unfortunate Angalomon who had just landed on the ground after a successful barrage of attacks against Tenssemon that had knocked the fan out of her hands. The amphibious Digimon was startled at the sudden loss of footing, making her gasp as she fell downwards.

Bomberomon had heard it and he abandoned his advantage against Convulsmon in favor of helping his comrade. Tenssemon had heard it as well after reacquiring her fan and also rushed towards her. The Warrior of Wind unleashed a blade of wind but Bomberomon intercepted it, grimacing as it cut his arms and part of his forehead.

Angalomon took a deep breath and relied on her upper arm strength she had acquired from years of gymnastics to pull herself up so she could flip over onto the ground before launching herself at the female Digimon in a stream of water. Bomberomon used the chance to regain his balance just before he heard the whooshing noise of something heading towards him. He adverted his head and watched as a mace whizzed passed his head only inches from his nose. He wasn't so lucky to dodge a punch to the gut.

Bomberomon fell over- gasping- with his feet dangling over the edge of the fissure's edge.

The flying mace also did a number on the two other Warrior's battle, cutting off both of their attacks as it soared past them. Both females blinked for a moment before turning her gaze towards where the projectile had came from.

"Yuta! Watch where you're throwing that!" Tenssemon shrieked, catching Convulsmon's attention who, at the moment, was poised to add another bruise to the Flame Warrior's collection.

Angalomon wasted no time in going to help her comrade in order to return his saving her. She ran at Convulsmon before jumping and spinning and smacking him with her fin-like pigtails, forcing him to drop his victim and try to defend himself. Principatmon then flew in and grabbed her by one of her fins and flung her away.

Bomberomon took advantage of what time he had to attack the closest of the two enemies with a fiery punch before escaping and rejoining Angalomon, helping her get to his feet.

"Thanks," he said.

"Well, you've helped me so I have to do it in return, Shinya," Angalomon answered. "And we're completely out matched."

"Yeah, I noticed," Bomberomon agreed grimly. Tenssemon and Convulsmon raced at them, both using their weapons to slam them into the ground but the two saw it coming and escaped.

"We really need to get the others," the female Digimon said as she landed next to the humanoid lion.

"Or there's that Beast Spirit," Shinya pointed out. The two had caught sight of movement out of the corner of their eyes and moved simultaneously to escape a side attack from Principatmon.

"Are you sure?" she asked skeptically after they were safely out of attack range.

"I'm sure," he responded confidently. He picked up a few nearby stones and branches before igniting them with fire and throwing them towards the advancing enemies. The Warriors of Fire and Water used the chance and ran for it. Bomberomon summoned his Dt2 and used it to pull up a map while Angalomon used hers to call the others.

~X:::::::::X~

Tommy, Sam, and Minoru kept waiting around the fire. Tommy looked over at Sam. He didn't seem too bothered by what he had seen. Deciding that it was a good idea to ask the boy about it, Tommy broke the silence. "Hey, Sam. How're you doing?" he asked.

Sam looked over at the older brunet, confused by what he meant. "I'm fine, Tommy-nii," he answered.

Tommy smiled and let out a laugh. "You are really different than me when I came here," he said. Sam looked at the goggle-head, even more perplexed by what he had meant.

Minoru frowned. "What is taking those two?" he whispered to himself. A sudden booming noise and the earth shaking startled them.

After a few seconds of calming down, the three looked towards the direction where the noise had came from. "What was that? An explosion?" shouted Tommy, a hand over his racing heart from the sudden jolt in the earth.

"What ever it was, it's trouble," Minoru stated. He too looked freaked out.

Sam was breathing heavily and his eyes were wide. "Isn't…that the direction that Shinya and Sayuri went?" he breathed almost inaudibly.

That clicked in both boys' minds. Before Sam knew it, he was racing to catch up with the older children and shouting after them to wait up. They both grabbed their Dt2's and Spirit Evolved in a flash as they kept running.

Minutes after the tremor, Nocturmon pulled out his Dt2 with a call from Sayuri. "Sayuri, what the hell happened?" Nocturmon shouted, anxiousness in his voice.

"We got attacked by Michi and Yuta," she answered quickly. "We're both okay." In the background, they could hear the rush of wind and the noise of crunching wood.

"Scratch that," came the shout of a startled Shinya. "Where the heck are you guys?"

"We're on our way, Shinya!" Tambomon replied. The call ended and the Warrior of Darkness' Dt2 disappeared in a flash of light.

~X:::::::::X~

Bomberomon and Angalomon kept rushing through the forest. As they kept going, dodging attacks launched at them from behind, their tree cover became less and less. It was good that it allowed them more room to move around but that also meant that they had less cover to duck under if an attack came too close for comfort.

To combat this, the two knocked down any trees they could to slow their pursuers down. "Shinya, are we almost there?" asked Anaglomon, panting a little. She was far from used to running this much.

"Yeah," he answered, tucking his Dt2 away before he spun around as he pulled out a dagger that flared up into flames and slicing at Tenssemon who had gotten too close in an attempt to attack one of the two Warriors. Anaglomon came to a skidding stop.

"Shinya, you go on ahead," she shouted. "I'll hold these guys off for a while."

"You sure?" he asked. She gave a determined nod. Bomberomon didn't argue; deciding to be quick, the Flame Warrior ran off. He would have to get it now or wait till after the others were with them to cover him. He should have enough time to run, get his Beast Spirit, and get back.

The Warrior of Water used water from a nearby stream to knock Tenssemon—who at the moment was getting up— back down and into a treetop. Seconds later, she jumped at the approaching Convulsmon and Principatmon in a corkscrew jet of water. The Warrior of Light flew upwards to avoid the attack while Convulsmon held his ground with his mace ready to swing at her like a batter at a baseball game.

Anaglomon saw it coming and at the last second curved around him as he swung before dispersing the column of water in a vicious spin and hitting him behind the head. She landed as the stone armored Digimon went stumbling forwards from the blow.

Principatmon flew in, a staff from his golden crown ready in his hands. He swung it over her head, causing the female Digimon to duck last second before rolling out of the way. "Why the heck are you doing this, Kouki?" Anaglomon demanded, as she sat crouched.

"I have my reasons," the angel answered. "I have no intentions of hurting you or Sam, though. You're family and he's an innocent child, I have no quarrels with either of you."

"Is it really because I'm family or is it because of you code of chivalry?" Anaglomon inquired, rather annoyed. "Just because we're family, I'm not afraid of knocking sense into you."

She jumped at him but Principatmon hovered sideways, allowing her to pass him before striking her back as hard as he could without breaking her spine. She winced and gulped back a yelp of pain.

"Of course that doesn't mean, I can't subdue you, Sayuri," Principatmon stated, shame tinting his tone. "I'm sorry, though…"

"Sorry or not, we _have to_ get her Spirits for our Master," Tenssemon hissed, trying to pull herself out of the tree. "Confounded tree." She managed to get herself free and dropped towards the earth, landing gracefully.

"Wow, Michi actually has a larger vocabulary than clothes and like," Sayuri mocked with a smirk on her face. "It's also a surprise that you work for a master though I can see you stooping so low as you have."

"You know _nothing_, Sayuri," hissed Tenssemon, casting a cold glare at the female on the ground. "I see that your boyfriend left you to us. I'll be sure to thank him after I've pounded that smirk off your face."

"As if you could," Anaglomon shot back. Despite being the one knocked down on the ground, it was apparent that the Water Warrior was in better control than the Warrior of Wind.

Tenssemon was about to retort but Convulsmon cut in. "Are _you_ going to even do anything?" he asked impatiently.

Tenssemon just casted him a glare to shut him up but Anaglomon took this chance. She got on all fours before pouncing like a cat and smacking the two with her fins. She quickly got away from Convulsmon's mace using her jet-like attack but only got so far. Her sore back flared up when she angled her upper torso wrong, causing her to loose concentration and fall the short distance to the earth.

Tenssemon got up, a triumphant smirk playing on her face. "Not so tough now, huh? I think it's about time that you pay for all of your smart mouthing."

Sayuri growled as she stared up at her with one eye that wasn't squeezed shut. "I'll go kicking and screaming," she answered.

~X:::::::::X~

It was only a half-mile from the battle scene to Shinya's destination. He didn't need to have his Dt2 to tell him that he was close. A small flame was resting up high in a wooden post. Stubs of where branches had been burned off could be seen but the rest of the tree remained unchared. The lion-human Digimon pulled out his Dt2.

The flame dispersed, revealing the first found Beast Spirit. The newfound Spirit went into the awaiting device before the screen glowed red. He pocketed the device before turning around and then racing for the battle he was absent from. However, when he arrived, he was beyond surprised when he saw Anaglomon bruised and on her knees, looking as if she'd pass out at any minute. Tenssemon was in the middle of a monologue her fan poised for the killing stroke and Convulsmon half ready to stop her monologue in order to put the girl out of her misery and collect her Spirit. Principatmon was looking away and his head tilted down.

Bomberomon normally wasn't one to act rashly or entirely on emotion but he had inherited more than his brother's Spirits. Before he even knew what he was doing, he rushed head long into the fight. The next thing he knew, he was crossing daggers with rock armor. Rage has been shown to make fighters recklessly stronger and often times, it helped but being out numbered put the battle in the other three's favor. Wind scars, bashed by rock hard fists, all the while after being temporarily blinded by Principatmon's God's Whisper attack, were tossing around Bomberomon. He soon found himself beginning to sober from his drunken rage only enough to realize that no matter how hard he fought, he was out powered.

His mind flashed towards the Beast Spirit. He recalled the stories that his brother told him of the Beast Spirits. Many of them had trouble controlling the powers that came with it but he also remembered hearing how Zoe, Koichi, and Tommy had little to no trouble controlling their Beast Spirits (or, rather, Koichi's purified Beast Spirit).

On an uncommon snap decision, Bomberomon tried finding an escape from the onslaught of attacks. Finally, he found himself on the loose earth made from the scuffle.

"Two Spirits now," Convuslmon noted.

"Only if we knew where the others were," mused Tenssemon. "We'll take your Spirits, thank you very much."

"That's only if you can pry them from my cold, dead hands." Bomberomon stated, whipping a trickle of blood from his lips. "And I mean _all _of them. SLIDE EVOLUTION!"

Everything went red in his mind. Reason and caution cried out in response to the boy's action but they were drowned out by a single, overpowering force: rage. A pure and unadulterated rage that was personified in the very fire of the creature's wings.

Didicasmon was a creature that stood three fourths taller than his previous form. He was a quadruped beast with a lion's build and tail, gold talons and ram horns on his head, a shaggy charcoal black coat, and wings of flames.

The piercing yellow eyes locked onto the closest of the human Digimon, which happened to be Tenssemon. Her eyes shrunk out of fear. She paled drastically and dared not move, out of the dread of that one wrong move would mean that the monster would unleash his power upon her.

Principatmon hovered high in the air. A grimace stretched across his face. _This is the power of the Beast Spirit?_ Even he could see the drastic change of control in the still unmoving Digimon.

Sayuri, who had de-evolved while Shinya had Slide Evolved, saw the creature that had been her comrade seconds ago. Much like the other female Warrior, she shivered. She could see that something was wrong. The humanity in his gaze was lost.

Convulsmon was the first one to move. It was more out of the need to make something happen than fear. He pulled the mace from its holster and brandished it before him. He then raced forwards despite Principatmon's call for him to stop.

The sudden movement turned the heated glare towards the approaching giant and the angel Digimon. The infirit roared, getting onto his haunches and shouting, "Genie Inferno!" Flames began spinning around Didicasmon's front claws. The beast bounded forwards two paces then brushed Convulsmon aside before going after the downed enemy. Principatmon threw a light spear at Didicasmon, which stopped the Digimon in his tracks as he shrieked in pain. This succeeded in drawing the angry beast away from his comrade and towards the angel Digimon. Didicasmon raced forwards before jumping into the air.

Sayuri watched in horror as Didicasmon swiped at Principatmon, searing the angel's back and creating three long scars across his back as he tried to escape.

Tenssemon fell onto her butt, breathing quickly to try to keep herself calm. _Wh-what a monster…_

"What the heck is that?" shouted a familiar voice. Sayuri tore her eyes away to see Tambomon followed by Nocturmon and Eskimon.

"Sayuri, are you okay?" Nocturmon asked, rushing over to his cousin.

"What took you three so long?" she nearly shouted. "If you guys would have been here, Shinya wouldn't have used _that_!"

"That?" inquired Eskimon, following Nocturmon but keeping his eyes on the creature flying overhead.

"The Beast Spirit," Tommy answered solemnly. He recognized it all right. It was like horrible déjà vu, seeing the nightmare unfold again. He honestly thought that Shinya could have controlled the Beast Spirit, after all, he was the calmer one. "He lost control. The damn moron should have told us! _You _should have told us! What the hell made him loose control?"

Sayuri looked down, guiltily. "Doesn't matter now. We have to stop him," she answered softly. "He's not himself…"

"I've got this," Tambomon stated. Convulsmon at that moment was starting to stand up and noticed Tambomon walking towards him. The giant Digimon grabbed for his mace, ready to fight but the panda Digimon held up one hand to show that he meant peace. "You should get out of here," he stated with a grim look on his face.

"Why?" Convulsmon retorted with a frown on his face. "You're our enemies so we fight."

"Do you honestly want to risk it?" Tambomon continued. "I've known how you and Katsu work for years and I know when the going gets tough, you get going. And _this _is more than tough. You wouldn't stand a chance."

"And you? _You're_ going to battle him?" Convulsmon's tone dropped some of its hostility in favor of genuine curiosity. He had never seen anything like this before. "Isn't he your friend?"

"Yeah. I'm going to beat some sense into him if I have to."

Tenssemon had already turned tail and ran for it. Parcipatmon forced himself up despite his bad burns and looked at Convulsmon, indicating his head for them to retreat. The angel Digimon's message got through to the giant Digimon. He nodded and began running back into the woods, following Principatmon.

With the three out of the way, Tambomon turned his attention back towards the circling infirit. "Shinya," he shouted into the air, "I thought you were smarter than this!"

The creature turned its head towards the giant panda before giving out a roar. It began descending towards him but Tambomon leaped out of the way of his talons. Nocturmon used the chance to slice at the lower part of his wing, causing Didicasmon to loose his balance and crash into some trees.

Sayuri rose and got ready to help but her legs buckled under her and she collapsed back to the earth. Eskimon looked back at her. "Sayuri, why is Shinya going mad?" he asked innocently, staring at her.

"I-I think it's because of the Beast Spirit," she answered.

"Exactly," agreed Tambomon, rising to his feet. "The Beast Spirit is nothing but raw emotion. A majority of Takuya and us had some form of trouble with it in one form or an other but a few of us had an easier time with it."

"So, exactly what is the plan or are we just going to wing it?" Nocturmon inquired, his sword poised in front of him and eyes fixed on Didicasmon as he rose.

"Either we _try _to talk sense into him or we have to hit him hard enough to regain his senses," Tambomon informed.

"Option A is like trying to talk sense into a madman," Nocturmon noted grimly.

"It can be done," Tambomon argued. "I managed to do it with Takuya. It's like bad déjà vu, though."

"Fine, we'll try it your way," Minoru relented.

Didicasmon roared as he pulled himself out of the trees. With the flame wheels spinning around his claws, he raced forwards and tried slicing at them but both recoiled with their own attacks, hitting him square in the eyes.

The beast came to a stop only a few yards to the left of the Eskimon and Sayuri. Eskimon looked at the creature that had been Shinya Kanbara with horrified eyes. How could this be one of his friends?_ What had happened to him, _the little boy wondered.

"Shinya, we're your friends," Eskimon began quietly, walking towards the fallen Digimon. "Can't you stop this?"

The creature looked at the approaching penguin Digimon, blinking to regain his vision. It growled but made no move to chase the small creature away. Eskimon continued in with a sad and desperate look on his face.

"Sam," Sayuri said quietly so not to randomly start Didicasmon into a rampage. "Please get back here. Shinya isn't himself."

For a second, the creature stopped hissing and his eyes were fixed on the girl. She flinched for a second, her eyes full of fear. As she held the gaze though, his eyes…they seemed…scared and guilty…almost human. She breathed out. He was starting to come back to his senses! It was like a miracle.

Almost.

Didicasmon looked calmer. He shifted and gently extended a claw towards Eskimon. Tambomon watched a distance away, unsure of what to do. Nocturmon, however jumped the gun.

"Sam! Get away from there!" Nocturmon shouted, rushing forward. This sudden break of silence made Didicasmon react like a scared wild beast. He recoiled with a sudden blast of flames erupting from the claws, which burned the little penguin. He screamed from the sudden burn, causing the infirit to react again and knock Eskimon away before flying into combat with Nocturmon.

Sayuri gasped and forced herself to run to the little boy as he de-evolved with a horrible second-degree burn. He rocked back and forth, holding the left side of his face, screaming and crying. The girl tried to get him to calm down and hold him still so she could see it but it was to no avail. She desperately looked back at the Tambomon and Nocturmon. Both were caught in the middle of combat with Didicasmon.

Tears were starting to form in her eyes. How could things have gotten so crazy? This wasn't something she signed up for. She thought people would get hurt and maybe killed but because of _this_? This was madness, just crazy. It needed to stop.

"STOP!" she screamed at the top of her lungs over the wailing boy and the sounds from the battle.

Tambomon looked back at the two only to be caught off guard by Didicasmon's good wing. He landed a few feet away and proceeded to roll to put out the fire that had caught on his vest.

Nocturmon and Didicasmon however didn't stop their fight. She tried again but again, they didn't listen.

Tambomon looked at her. His heart sunk for a minute and bit his lip. Then he hardened his form and grabbed his Takenotsu rods and dug them into the ground, shouting, "Takenoko!" Shoots of bamboo rose out of the ground, breaking the two up. Tambomon then continued, pulling out one of his bamboo rods and throwing it at Didicasmon's head. The blunt part bonked him on the side of his head, grabbing the creature's attention.

The Wood Warrior stood his ground and waited for Didicasmon to end his roar before pointing at Sayuri. "Shinya, listen to her! You always did, bud. Look! Sam's hurt and she wants this to stop! We're your friends! You can't control the Beast Spirit at first but you _can _take control now! Remember us!"

And Shinya did just that. Didicasmon remained unmoving for a minute before he bowed his head in shame. In a swirl of data, the boy sat on his knees, arms hanging limply at his sides and his gaze staring at the ground before him.

Tambomon walked over to him before de-evolving into Tommy. The boy placed a hand on his best friend's shoulder. "That'll do," he said quietly.

**~:-:~**

**Yay for stupid bad guys who do monolouging and crap projectile maces! Didicasmon is named after a volcano of the same name and based after the infirit, genies that use fire magic though the main design is based after various pictures of their game counterparts. Yeah, Sam did nothing really. I had trouble with this chapter's battle scene. I did a mirror of Takuya's but that shattered as you can see.**

**Ugh. Sorry this took so long. I've been distracted and I just couldn't bring myself to write it. I don't know why. Besides that, life has decided to be a brat at times. Happy Halloween for those who celebrate it. As for the November thingy, I'm not participating in it for as long as I thought. I'm having troubles planning that story but for some odd reason, I'm accelerating in the other one. :| I don't know why but whatever. Hope you enjoyed this chapter.**


	9. Episode 8

~X:::::::::X~ Change of scene

~:-:~ End of chapter

**A/N: Thanks Starowner, Hikari no Destany, darkhaseo90, RazenX, and Immortal Fallen Radiance for reviewing. Well, it's been a decent amount of time since I last updated. XD God, Minoru can be such a dick. Okay, so, anyway, on to the chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon Frontier at all. I do own any and all OCs in this story.**

**Digimon Frontier 02: The Fallen World**

Episode 8

The group sat in silence around the fire, Shinya sitting a few feet away from everyone, keeping his eyes down. Tommy, who was next to him, poked the fire with a stick. He had forced Shinya to sit with the group in hopes that he wouldn't mope. Despite Tommy's comforting, it did his friend no good, as he stayed quiet and still even after his pep talk.

On the other side of the fire, Sayuri and Minoru were treating Sam's burned face. The boy's tears had stopped flowing but his wound still stung too much to talk. He kept a wet cloth close to his face, advised by Minoru. After examining the wound, it was found that the wound started from the corner of his eye and went down to the bottom of his chin and followed the curve of his cheek. They also had given him a small dose of pain reliever from Tommy's bag to ease the pain, as Sam didn't do so well under it compared to most of them.

Shinya glanced at Minoru and caught—from what he could tell—a glare from the Warrior of Darkness. A few seconds later, it was gone. "So…how are you doing Sam?" Tommy asked, finally breaking (what it felt like to him) the nerve-wrecking silence.

"Good," Sam answered before he winced and clutched the side of his face with both hands. "Ow."

"Tommy, try to keep Sam's talking to a minimum," Minoru stated, glancing over at the addressed teen. Tommy raised an eyebrow. It sounded like Minoru _wanted _to keep the silence.

"Fine. Sorry about that, Sam," Tommy reluctantly apologized.

"S-so am I," added Shinya quietly.

The four looked at Shinya in surprised. "Can't you apologize and look someone in the face?" asked Minoru rather harshly.

Tommy looked at him, almost outraged. Almost; Tommy understood why Minoru was displaying such anger towards Shinya. He had hurt Sam, though it was unintentional. It was also partly Minoru's fault too. The Warrior of Wood remembered that it was Minoru's outburst that caused Shinya, as Didicasmon, to burn Sam. For a second, he shivered at the piercing scream that came after. He shook his head. Of course, Tommy was still angered by Minoru's harshness.

Shinya timidly looked up and winced at the dark haired teen's hard look before he looked over at Sayuri. She turned her gaze away quickly, biting her lip. Finally, his gaze fell on Sam, who looked at him with sadness. Seeing the cloth hiding the horrible burn made him feel even worse, as if he was being crushed to death by his guilt.

He was almost frozen, too scared to say anything but a prompt "well" from Minoru forced him to speak. "I-I'm sorry, Sam," he repeated so softly that it was almost inaudible.

"We can't hear you," Minoru continued, his anger becoming more apparent in his voice with each passing word.

This injustice was what finally made Tommy snap. He stood up, glaring at the two. "Who can't hear him, Minoru? Sam? Or _you_? He's not here on trial! And my god, it was an accident! Stop trying to put him down. You're just as much at fault as he is!"

"Really?" Minoru argued, standing up as well, turning his glare towards the Warrior of Wood. "If I remember correctly, it was _Shinya_ who lost control of the Beast Spirit, _not me_!"

"Yeah but it was you that scared Shinya when he was _calm_! You overreacted like you are now! Besides, it was all an accident!" shouted Tommy, his voice growing louder.

"An accident that could have been evaded if he hadn't used that stupid Beast Spirit!" retorted Minoru.

"Have you ever thought about looking at it from _Shinya's_ point of view?"

"Ever thought of looking at what he did to _Sam?_"

"You're so closed-minded!"

"Oh, I'm the closed-minded one? I'm thinking about Sam here!"

"Really? It sounds more like you're using Sam to blame Shinya!" Sam flinched.

"BOYS!" roared Sayuri, raising and getting in between both of them. "Stop this! You're both being stupid. Ever thought how Sam is taking this! Or Shinya for that matter?"

"Oh, like you're the one to talk, Sayuri! You are ashamed of what happened! I saw how you looked away-!" Tommy began but Shinya interrupted him.

"Minoru, I won't use the Beast Spirit ever again," Shinya promised softly.

Minoru looked at the brown haired boy. "That's a little late," he stated vivaciously.

"Minoru, stop it!" warned Sayuri. "We shouldn't be doing this! Tommy said it was an accident and-!"

"You're taking his side? You saw Sam's wound!" Minoru shouted.

For several more minutes, the fight continued. Sam watched desperately, his eyes flickering between Shinya's hurt and guilty face and the shouting figures. Their words grew so loud that they melded into each other. He pressed his hands on his ears, hoping it would go away but the swarming words wormed passed the cover of his hands. _Please, just stop,_ he thought desperately. _Please, Tommy-nii. Minoru…Sayuri…Shinya-nii…why are you arguing like this. We're supposed to be a team…_ Tears began forming in his eyes. _Please…please…_ He hated this; hated all of it. Couldn't they get along?

"PLEASE! STOP!" screamed Sam. His mind didn't register the pain of the stretching burn as he screamed, his mind was set on getting them to stop arguing. Salty tears rolled down his face, stinging his burn as they ran down his cheek. He dropped the cloth as he shook. "I don't want to see you fighting! I thought we were all friends! Friends don't fight like this!"

The four were left speechless as they watched the little boy run off to the tree line. They felt a shadow of guilt pass over them. Sayuri was the first to go after him a minute later, bound to apologize. Minoru and Tommy watched her go.

"I hope you're happy," Tommy huffed before walking over to his pack. "I'm going to go to bed now."

Minoru simply answered with an exhale of air before turning to the woods and deciding to get his own pack to get a blanket and climb up into a tree to sleep there for the night. Shinya watched both of them go, he rested his head on one of his knees and sighed ruefully. _If only I didn't use the Beast Spirit, _he thought sadly. _If only I didn't have the Beast Spirit…_

~X:::::::::X~

The next morning, Tommy was met with a violent shake. He jumped suddenly, expecting the worst and smacked whatever was shaking him in his mad flurry to get to his feet. In seconds he was standing in a slightly crouched position, looking around wildly for an enemy.

"Ow," groaned a familiar female voice. "Gez, watch where you're swinging your arms, will ya?"

Tommy looked down next to him to see a glaring Sayuri, rubbing her cheek which Tommy assumed that he had hit. "Well, then why are you shaking me awake for? I thought you were an enemy! If there was no use for waking me up so violently, you shouldn't have done that," Tommy stated, shoving his Dt2 into his pocket, aggravated.

"I don't want to start this early," she stated after biting back an acid reply. "Minoru and Sam are gone."

Tommy relaxed and rolled his eyes. "They could have gone out to get firewood or something, Sayuri," he grumbled. He walked past her and lay down. "If that's it, I'm going back to bed."

"Yeah, sure they'd leave their _packs _behind if they were going to get firewood," she retorted.

Tommy heard this and sat back up. "Wha?"

"They're packs are gone," she repeated, pointing to where Sam slept then over towards where Minoru had left his the night before. Surely enough, both were gone.

"You haven't had a chance to get a hold of them?" he asked, getting up and examining the spots.

"No," she answered. "Me and Shinya have tried but it was no good. Minoru won't answer his and we nearly got a hold of Sam but it suddenly cut off. I think they're in trouble."

"Where's Shinya?" Tommy asked. He hadn't seen him since getting up.

"He went to look for them, hopefully following the signal," Sayuri replied. "He only left a few minutes ago."

With that, Tommy rolled up his sleeping bag and put it away before grabbing his pack. Sayuri saw what he was doing and grabbed hers before they both took off in the direction in which Shinya had left.

~X:::::::::X~

Sam had stopped struggling against the older boy but instead tried asking him what he was doing. They had been walking for a good two hours before the three moons sank and the sun peaked up into the sky. Even with his questions, Minoru still remained silent and refused to look down at him.

Sam was starting to get worried. "Minoru, aren't the other's worrying about us?" he asked.

Again silence was his answer.

The little boy sighed, bored before deciding to at least understand the few statements he had been given when he was forced awake. Then he was groggy and only understood a few words. Something about a Trailmon and cake. Was it a Trailmon eating a cake? He silently giggled to himself before trying to decide what else he had heard. Finally, he got tired of that and just began to entertain himself again.

Minoru continued in silence, reflecting over the night before. _"Maybe you should look at it from Shinya's point of view!"_ Minoru snorted bitterly. This action would definitely attract even more hate from Tommy. Truthfully, he didn't care. He was always a pariah but he was used to it. Being hated on was nothing new to him.

Right now, he was more worried by Sam's well-being. Because of the incident the night before, he had discovered just _how_ dangerous this place was and it rekindled a internal worry, more for the youngest member than anyone else. He was only eight and he had been burned, figuratively and literally. Who knew what else that could lead to if anyone else had gotten a hold of their Beast Spirit. Those objects of immense power, he had developed an antipathy for it. Also, what would it mean if their enemies got a hold of their Beast Spirits? He'd rather not risk the death of such a young kid.

He then silently grumbled to himself as he looked for the closest village. He just hoped that he had enough distance between himself and the others.

~X:::::::::X~

However, that wasn't the case. Despite absconding hours earlier, Shinya, Sayuri, and Tommy had caught up to them in front of a Trailmon station. By the time they found them, Tommy was tired and irritated and he didn't care if offended Minoru at all. Minoru, too, was ready to fight back, verbally or physically, to see his job through.

As tempers flew, Sam watched in horror as the night before was repeated. He then learned why Minoru had taken him away: to send him back home. The two debated back and forth and Sam could only think of a single reaction. _Can't I choose to stay?_he thought bitterly. Sam wanted to stay, so why was Minoru trying to send him back?

"I don't want to leave!" However, his voice was drowned out by the shouting match of the two debaters and Shinya and Sayuri as they tried to separate the two before they could get any farther in their fight as their argument began deterring off topic. It almost looked ready to evolve into a fistfight.

Sam could only think of one thing: run. Run from all of this. Maybe they'd calm down if he wasn't there. Maybe the problem would just go away if he wasn't there. Even though it was a childish solution, the eight year old didn't dwell on it. His feet began carrying him away from the argument.

He raced as far as his feet could take him. He passed through streets of the village until he found himself lost. He finally collapsed on a tree trunk, worn out from his physical and emotional turmoil. Sam bit the inside of his cheeks as he rocked back and forth. "I wish Ichiro was here," he sighed to himself sadly. "I wish he came with us. Maybe things wouldn't have become like this."

He dipped his head lower. "I miss onii-chan and Mama and Papa," he whispered to himself. He was left to wander in his thoughts for a few seconds and sleep began to over come him. Since he had a lack of sleep compared to the others, he was ready to fall over right then and there. "Maybe I can lay down for a few minutes," he said to himself to fill the silence.

"Sleeping out here? Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked a voice from behind him. Sam looked back, startled and noted a strikingly familiar figure.

"Aren't you Minoru's brother?" he asked, scrambling to his feet and pulling out his Dt2. "You're here for my Spirit?"

The new Warrior of Light shook his head. "I couldn't," answered Kouki, sitting on the stump and gazing at the child. "You're a boy. I wouldn't fight you, even if I was told to. I don't believe in picking on the weak."

"But I'm not weak," Sam argued, raising his Dt2 as if to remind the twelve year old about his statace of being a Warrior.

"That's true you have a Spirit," Kouki admitted. "But, you're young."

Sam pouted and he looked down crestfallen. "That's what Minoru thinks," he said, dejectedly. "He was going to send me back home but I don't want to go. I want to stay and fight."

Kouki gave him a concerned frown. "That sounds like Minoru all right," stated Kouki with a begrudging yet respectful tone. "I guess you told him this?"

Sam nodded. "He didn't listen. Now, him and Tommy-nii are fighting. Shinya's sad. I hate it." The boy's head dropped lower.

Kouki turned his head upwards, unsure what to say. "Just…keep trying," he finally said. Sam looked at him in surprise. "Minoru is hardheaded at times but…he'll come around. You just have to talk to him with a lot of confidence, prove that you don't want to leave."

"That's what you do?" asked Sam curiously.

Kouki didn't answer. "I…better get going. I'm sure your friends will come and try to find you here." He rose but Sam went to stop him.

"Wait," he began, "why don't you come with us! You're far too nice to be with the bad guys."

"I can't," Kouki answered simply.

"Why not?" Sam asked, dejectedly.

"I have my reasons," he answered before ruffling the younger boy's hair. "Don't tell them I was here."

Sam wasn't able to answer before Kouki began leaving. The boy's hand wandered to the top of his head. "I have to prove…but how?" he wondered.

~X:::::::::X~

"Both of you! WON'T YOU JUST STOP!" screamed Sayuri. "Sam's missing and you two can't stop fighting!"

The two boys looked towards her, shocked by what she had said. "Sam's missing?" they repeated.

"Yes, he left while you two were fighting," Shinya answered.

"Well, that's just great," Minoru muttered, glaring over at Tommy. "If only _you _were paying attention, Himi."

"What, now it's my fault that we're stuck in this situation?" Tommy demanded angrily. "If I remember correctly, it was _you_ who dragged Sam away in the first place."

"My GOD, can both of you shut up?" shouted Sayuri, putting her hands to her head as if to comfort a headache. "I honestly don't blame Sam from running away because you two _idiots_ can't quit fighting and deciding what Sam should do! Pull your heads out of your butts and think! Sam was upset because we were all fighting last night and now he ran off, upset because you guys can't let it drop!"

"But-!"

"Tommy, Minoru, Sayuri's right!" Shinya stated. "You two just can't let it drop. I know it was caused by _my_ mistake but that doesn't mean that we should take it out on each other. You two are really blowing it out to be a bigger deal than it really is."

Tommy was the first to fall silent. _Shinya…_he thought. He took in the words and looked down, shamefaced. "Yeah, you're both right…" he began. "We're both at fault."

Minoru was about to protest about his fault but a glare from Sayuri made him think twice. "Minoru," she said, "think about how Sam feels right now. He looks up to us all. How do you think he feels if we just started fighting over something so trivial? Something that's about _him_?"

Minoru clamped his mouth shut. "He'd feel at fault," Minoru answered. He looked towards Tommy. "Let's go find Sam."

"Right," Tommy agreed. The two began racing off. "What about an apology?"

"Sure, once you drop your pride to do so yourself."

"Ugh, you two are unbelievable!" Sayuri complained as she watched them go, agitatedly.

"Sam's more important, though," Shinya began, placing a hand on her shoulder. "They agreed to forget about it. That's enough for now."

Sayuri gave him a half pouting look. "Still," she insisted.

"Let's go." Shinya quickly raced off, leaving her behind. Sayuri sighed. _At least things are getting better, _she thought.

**Chapter 8: End.**

**My God, it has been four months since my last update. I'm terribly sorry about that. I've been wrapped up in fishing ACD by the end of next month. I really need to give this fic some more love. This one isn't as good but I'm too lazy to expand it anymore. Next one should be better and the one after that will go to the other world then things start picking back up from there.**


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